Barclays Prepares Return to Indian Equity Capital Markets After Ten-Year Hiatus Amid Record IPO Boom — October 14, 2026

British financial major Barclays Plc is preparing to restart its equity capital markets (ECM) business in India after an absence of nearly a decade, seeking to capitalise on a relentless wave of initial public offerings (IPOs) and record-setting fundraising across Dalal Street.

The strategic pivot, revealed by Barclays India Chief Executive Officer Pramod Kumar on the sidelines of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, marks a major step toward rounding out the lender's domestic footprint.

"That's one important product missing in our otherwise very strong wholesale banking offering," Kumar noted, emphasizing the long-term potential of the domestic market. "We believe India will offer a long-term opportunity for banks like us to help our clients in meeting their capital needs across debt as well as equity."

Capitalising on an Unprecedented IPO Boom

Barclays previously scaled down portions of its cash equity and underwriting operations across parts of the Asia-Pacific region during a global restructuring nearly a decade ago. Since then, the bank’s Indian presence has concentrated heavily on corporate and wholesale banking, fixed income, debt capital markets, and cross-border advisory.

However, India’s primary market has transformed into one of the most lucrative and high-volume dealmaking ecosystems globally. Robust domestic institutional inflows via systemic investment plans (SIPs), strong retail participation, and a swelling crop of mature new-age tech startups and manufacturing conglomerates have turned Mumbai into a global listing hub.

According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), investment banks hauled in a record $417 million in IPO underwriting fees in India last year as deal flow accelerated and merchant banking fees commanded better pricing power.

Robust Pipeline Underpins Primary Market Strength

Barclays' re-entry coincides with one of the deepest primary issuance pipelines the Indian market has ever witnessed.

Key factors supporting the ECM pipeline:

• Approximately 170 companies have already received formal approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to tap the markets.
• Another 115 corporate entities are awaiting regulatory clearance, bringing the total pool of pending listings to roughly 285 firms.
• Indian companies raised record equity capital in the first half of the fiscal year, with primary issuances recording sharp year-on-year growth alongside listing-day premiums.

While Barclays has not yet laid out an exact timeline or disclosed the full scale of personnel recruitment for the revived ECM arm, restarting equity underwriting will allow the bank to pitch for lucrative bookrunning lead manager (BRLM) mandates against established domestic powerhouses and Wall Street competitors.

Implications for Indian Issuers and Markets

For Indian companies planning multi-thousand-crore public issues, the return of Barclays adds an influential international distribution channel. Global institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remain critical for absorbing mega-cap listings, an area where multinational banks provide cross-border syndication muscle.

The entry also signals widening confidence among foreign lenders in India’s structural macroeconomic trajectory, even as global underwriting activity faces intermittent slowdowns in Western financial centres.

Tags: Barclays SEBI Investment Banking Equity Capital Markets IPO NSE