'Hard-nosed PEs are very active'

ICICI Securities (I-Sec) has topped the Prime Database league table for money raised through initial and follow-on public offerings (IPOs/FPOs).

Besides being No.1 in IPO transactions this year, the category-1 merchant banker is working on a lot ofprivate equity transactions. In the broking side of business, it is targeting 1 million customers this year and currently has a customer base of 1.5 million. Italso plans to add 300 new branches this year.

It operates its online trading platform under ICICI direct.com which is one of the largest online broking portal inthe country. Managing Director S Mukherji talks to Vandana on a range of issues. Excerpts:  

What is the sense you are getting from the primary and secondary market?
There can be two ways of looking at things. One extreme could be that it is the endof the world and the other that it is purely a blip. We are not insulated fromcertain events, but the positives are also very strong. 

When the overall sentiment is good we tend to shrug off bad news and discount it andwhen it turns sour, we overstate potential bad things. FIIs are clearly not in thesame mode as earlier because of problems emanating from the US. On the Indian side, the consumption story is by and large intact and investments arealso strong. At least, nobody is putting investments on hold. Unlike in the past,today's investments are on a much stable platform. The current bogey is inflation.

The government has become serious on this issue and I think real action has tohappen on the supply side. It is just about sentiment change. Once the positivesentiment comes in, everything will normalise.   

Do you think things are at standstill now?   
We can't say things are at a standstill now but nobody

is talking of launching bigissues in these markets. Promoters have to become more realistic about valuations.Private equity business has become very active.    

People have realised that these are the guys who have money and are very aggressiveas far as valuations are concerned. One can get away during a bull-run in public markets but PEs are very hard-nosed.    

They do proper due-diligence before investing in a company. Many companies, who hadearlier thought of tapping the public markets, are indeed going to private equity.    It's not that you can't sell an issue in the market. It's only a question of expectations and subscription. Today for an issue to attract attention, it has to beof certain size.   

The credit crisis is far from over. To what extent do you think it can impact Indian markets?   
It could impact foreign players' action in India. Today, Indian markets are directed by FIIs and they are not coming in. US will address the problem and once people start believing that the worst is over, things will normalise. There is a lot of domestic money in the form of mutual funds and insurance companies, but FIIs bring direction to the markets. They bring in decisive leadership.   

How is your overseas trading platform doing which you launched last year?   
Until January, Indian markets were booming so much that US investors were looking here. It's an additional product that one must have. Actually, people are not veryaware of US stocks. So, we are uploading a lot of information on our website. Then there are active traders and high networth individuals. There may be a few retail investors as well. As long as RBI allows you to invest overseas $200,000 ayear, it's not a constraint. But the response is picking up and we are learning.