The SEBI study covered 242 mainboard IPOs listed between April 2022 and October 2025 and found an inverse relationship between issue size and anchor exit rates.
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The anchor investors have been exiting their investments more aggressively in smaller initial public offerings on the mainboard compared to larger IPOs.
According to the SEBI study on the ‘Exit Behaviour of Anchor Investors in Mainboard IPOs,’ small IPOs that raised less than ₹250 crore recorded a 9.1 per cent exit after the first 30-day unlock. The sale jumped to 20 per cent by 60 days and 32 per cent after 90 days. The exit rate reached 72 per cent at 365 days, compared to 41 per cent for issues in the ₹1,001–2,500 crore range.
The SEBI study covered 242 mainboard IPOs listed between April 2022 and October 2025 and found an inverse relationship between issue size and anchor exit rates.
However, the weighted aggregate exit by anchor investors was just 3 per cent after the first unlock, rising to about 8 per cent by 60 days and 17 per cent after the second unlock at about 90 days.
The findings suggest that while selling increases after lock-in periods expire, investors retain most of their anchor allocations even beyond the prescribed exit windows.
AIFs, other QIBs, and body corporates account for a significant anchor portion in smaller issues. As the issue size increases beyond ₹1,000 crore, the presence of AIFs and body corporates shrinks sharply, and the allotment becomes a near-binary split between FPIs (45–47 per cent) and MFs (38–42 per cent), with other QIBs filling the residual 9–12 per cent.
The study also found a negative correlation between the intensity of anchor selling and price performance around the first unlock window. The price impact was considerably more muted around the 90-day unlock window.
The stocks with more than 10 per cent exit during the first unlock window, FPIs were the largest contributor at 24.5 per cent average exit, while MFs showed only 11.5 per cent average exit,” notes the study.
FPIs dominated in absolute exit value across all three stages, contributing about ₹1,750 crore at the first exit (3 per cent of the anchor allotment to FPIs), ₹4,800 crore (9 per cent) at the 60-day mark, and ₹10,400 crore (20 per cent) at the second exit.
This confirms that FPIs not only exit a higher percentage of their anchor holdings but also generate the largest quantum of secondary market supply by a wide margin, given their larger allotment base, according to the study.
By one year, FPIs had exited about 60 per cent of their anchor allocation, compared with 38 per cent for mutual funds. Body corporates exited 58 per cent, AIFs 55 per cent and other QIBs 46 per cent, it added.
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