Title: Small vs. large firms: exploring determinants of IPO launch decisions

Authors: Muhammadriyaj Faniband; Pravin Jadhav

Addresses: Symbiosis Centre for Corporate Education, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), 411016, Pune, India ' Institute of Infrastructure, Technology, Research and Management (IITRAM), Maninagar East, Khokhra, Ahmedabad-380026, Gujarat, India

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of macroeconomic and market-specific factors on initial public offering (IPO) launch decisions of small and large firms in India using the count data models: Poisson and negative binomial models. We consider a monthly dataset from January 2012 to December 2024. We find that for small firms, industrial output growth is consistently positive and significant, emphasising their reliance on domestic industrial performance, while for large firms, its impact is weaker and delayed. Inflation and interest rates exert robust negative effects on both markets. Other variables, including exchange rate, economic policy uncertainty and foreign and domestic institutional investment flows, are largely insignificant. Market indicators such as Nifty 50 and market volatility influence large firms' IPOs more than small firms, which reflects broader investor sensitivity. We provide several policy implications for the central bank and government to foster a conducive IPO environment for small and large Indian firms.

Keywords: macroeconomic; market indicators; initial public offerings; IPO; SME; small firms; large firms; count models; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEE.2026.155825

International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics, 2026 Vol.16 No.3, pp.255 - 271

Received: 24 Mar 2025
Accepted: 30 Oct 2025
Published online: 24 Aug 2026 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article