Hyundai India Files For IPO That Could Be Biggest In Nation's History

Hyundai Motor India Ltd. has filed for an initial public offering with India’s markets regulator, setting the stage for the first carmaker to drive on to Dalal Street in more than two decades.

On offer in the Hyundai Motor IPO are 14.2 crore shares, equivalent to 17.5% stake, of face value Rs 10 each, according to the draft red-herring prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The offering is pure offer-for-sale by parent Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.

The South Korean carmaker will not issue new shares in the IPO.

A Hyundai India IPO is noteworthy, for that would make the South Korean automaker the first carmaker to list in India since Maruti Udyog Ltd. in 2003. A successful listing will also peg Hyundai India’s market cap at half of its parent’s $47-billion valuation in Seoul.

The IPO, if successful, would also be India’s largest, overtaking that of Life Insurance Corp. of India a few years ago.

Hyundai Motor Co., which entered the subcontinent with its best-selling Santro in 1998, is the second-largest carmaker with a 15% market share. It’s the only foreign player surviving in a hyper-competitive market, dominated by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. American carmakers Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. bowed out after years of attempting to carve out a piece of the world’s third-largest auto market.

Nearly one in four Hyundai cars are sold in India now. The company has been consistently clocking 60,000 units per month for some time now.

In May 2024, domestic sales of Hyundai India rose 1.13% year-on-year to 49,151 units, as against 48,601 units in the year-ago period. Exports rose 31% to 14,000 units due to a low base. Total sales surged 6.63% year-on-year to 63,551 units versus 59,601 units during the same month last year.

“We have maintained a healthy total sales volume in May 2024, despite a week-long routine bi-annual maintenance shutdown at our Sriperumbudur factory,” Tarun Garg, chief operating officer at Hyundai Motor India Pvt. said on May 1. "Our SUVs continue to be a growth driver, accounting for more than 67% of domestic sales last month. Our rural penetration stood at a healthy 20.1% in May."