The Great Indian IPO boom of 2024

Welcome to Top of the Morning by Mint, your weekday newscast that brings you five major stories from the world of business. It's Thursday, December 12, 2024. This is Nelson John, let's get started.

Adani Group is navigating critical financial moves for its renewables arm, Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), as it seeks to refinance a $1.1 billion loan maturing in March 2025. Having shelved plans for a $1.2 billion overseas bond issuance due to volatile market rates, the group is now engaging with a mix of domestic and international banks and investors. The aim is to secure a private placement deal offering more favorable terms than the current dollar markets, reports Anirudh Laskar. This effort isn’t solely about raising new funds—it’s also about optimizing existing debt. Adani Group plans to restructure its $3.5 billion credit facility, with an eye on expanding it to over $5 billion. These financial maneuvers come as the group faces legal challenges in the US, where Gautam Adani is embroiled in allegations of bribery tied to contract awards for AGEL.

The Indian rupee has been on a turbulent ride in 2024, hitting several record lows against the US dollar. This week, it touched 84.83 per dollar, marking a sharp departure from its typically steady trajectory. Markets are abuzz following the departure of Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das, known for his hawkish monetary stance. His successor, Sanjay Malhotra, has sparked speculation of potential interest rate cuts, adding pressure on the rupee as traders anticipate a narrowing of the US-India interest rate gap. Adding to the uncertainty, Donald Trump’s return to power in the US brings expectations of pro-growth policies that could further bolster the dollar, potentially widening its strength against global currencies, including the rupee. Meanwhile, India’s position as a net importer keeps dollar demand consistently high, weighing on the rupee’s performance. Abhinanda Saha explores what lies ahead for the rupee in 2025.

November saw e-way bill generation drop to a five-month low, following October's record high. Businesses generated 101.8 million e-way bills, a notable decline from October’s 117.2 million but still higher than the 87.5 million recorded in November last year, according to GST Network data. The dip likely reflects a post-festive slowdown, as businesses ease off after clearing inventories during the high-demand festival season. E-way bills, a key indicator of goods movement across India, provide valuable insights into economic activity and consumption trends—critical data as the government gears up for the FY25 Union Budget. Meanwhile, GST collections in November saw a modest year-on-year rise to ₹1.82 trillion, though slightly below October’s ₹1.87 trillion.

Google unveiled its latest AI innovation, Gemini 2.0, a next-generation model designed to revolutionize how businesses handle complex queries and tasks. This announcement, detailed in a blog post by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, marks a significant leap toward creating more capable and "agentic" AI models. These models are not just reactive but can proactively understand context, make decisions, and act on them, akin to a universal assistant with multimodal capabilities, including handling images and audio directly. The introduction of Gemini 2.0, which began testing with select developers on its launch day, aims to streamline operations in domains like pharmaceuticals and e-commerce by automating complex tasks, Shouvik Das reports. For instance, in HR, it can analyze job applicants more qualitatively. This move by Google seems to be a strategic play to catch up with Microsoft, which currently leads in enterprise AI adoption. During its launch, Google revealed some impressive benchmarks, showing Gemini 2.0 as nearly 9% more effective than its predecessor in certain test

IPO frenzy in India has reached unprecedented levels in 2024, with investors pouring a record ₹1,34,345 crore into 76 public offerings. Big-ticket names like Hyundai Motor India, Swiggy, and NTPC Green led the charge, pushing this year’s total past the previous high set in 2021 and significantly ahead of last year’s tally. The surge is underpinned by a bullish stock market, with the Sensex gaining over 16% in the past year. Retail and institutional investors are flocking to equities, lured by the promise of strong returns, reports Priyamvada C. For companies, especially startups, this robust appetite for IPOs presents an opportune moment to leverage favourable market conditions and secure capital.