FPIs Exit 60% Of IPO Anchor Holdings In A Year, Far Outpacing Mutual Funds: SEBI Study

Foreign portfolio investors emerged as the most aggressive sellers among anchor investors in mainboard initial public offerings, offloading around 60% of their IPO anchor holdings within a year, according to a Securities and Exchange Board of India study.

The study, conducted by officers of SEBI's Department of Economic and Policy Analysis, examined anchor investor behaviour across 242 IPOs listed between April 2022 and October 2025.

While anchor investors collectively sold about half of their aggregate allotments within a year, FPIs accounted for the largest share of exits. FPIs sold around Rs 22,474 crore of their Rs 37,491-crore anchor allotment over the period, compared with mutual funds, which sold around Rs 12,228 crore from an allotment of Rs 31,529 crore.

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The study tracked anchor holdings at six points, 6, 29, 33, 60, 93, 180 and 365 days from allotment, to examine selling around the prescribed lock-in periods as well as longer-term holding behaviour.

Anchor selling was relatively muted immediately after the first unlock. Aggregate exits stood at 3.2% shortly after the first unlock and rose to around 8% by 60 days. Following the second unlock at 90 days, cumulative selling reached 17.3%.

However, exits accelerated over the longer term. Among 167 IPOs listed through the end of 2024 with a complete one-year holding history, anchor selling rose from around 4% at 30 days to 9% at 60 days, 19% at 90 days, 34% at 180 days and 51% at 365 days.

FPIs accounted for 43.8% of anchor allotments, ahead of mutual funds at 38.5%. Other QIBs, including insurers and banks, accounted for 10.5%, while AIFs contributed 5.3%.

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The gap between FPIs and mutual funds widened significantly with time. At 90 days, FPIs had exited around 20% of their anchor allocation versus about 15% for mutual funds. By one year, the gap had widened to around 60% versus 38%.

The study also found that smaller IPOs saw significantly higher anchor exits. In IPOs with issue sizes of up to Rs 250 crore, 72.5% of anchor holdings were sold within a year, compared with 40.8% for IPOs sized Rs 1,001-2,500 crore.

Higher anchor selling was also associated with greater price pressure. Stocks where more than 10% of the anchor portion was sold saw an average price decline of about 3.5% between T+29 and T+33, compared with a 0.4% decline where anchor exits were up to 2.5%.

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