India's Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle filed for an initial public offering on Thursday, aiming to cash in on a booming IPO market in a country that is also the world's second-biggest gold consumer.
Bluestone, which sells diamond, gold, platinum and studded jewellery, will issue new shares worth 10 billion rupees ($117.8 million) and use them to fund working capital needs, it said in its offering prospectus.
Existing shareholders, including Accel India and Kalaari Capital, will sell 24 million shares in the offering.
Bluestone competes with jewellers such as Titan, Kalyan Jewellers and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri among others.
The jewellery market in India, where buying bullion is considered auspicious during festivals and weddings, was estimated at $85.52 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow 5.7% annually to 2030, as per research firm Grand View Research.
The company is the latest to join a growing list of firms tapping the country's bustling capital market, in which more than 300 companies have raised $17.5 billion so far in 2024 - more than double the amount raised last year, data compiled by LSEG showed.
The IPO comes at a time when urban consumption is slowing amid sticky inflation, which may cloud the growth view for a company like Bluestone that earns from offering discretionary products like jewellery, said Mahesh Ojha, assistant vice president of research and business development at Hensex Securities.
In that context, the pricing of the shares on sale will be crucial, Ojha said.
Bluestone's annual losses narrowed to 1.42 billion rupees in the fiscal year ended March 2024, from 1.67 billion rupees a year earlier. Meanwhile, its revenue from operations jumped over 64% to 12.66 billion rupees year-over-year.
Axis Capital, IIFL Capital and Kotak Investment Banking are the book-running lead managers of the IPO.
