Bengaluru, Nov. 22 -- It's raining initial public offerings (IPOs), and retail investors just can't keep calm. So far in 2025, nearly 93 companies have raised about Rs.1.54 trillion via public issues. Retail investors are piling in too, with the retail portion subscribed over 24x on average. The frenzy is real.

The euphoria can be explained by reforms that made IPOs faster and easier to access, says Shyam Sekhar, chief ideator and founder, ithought Financial Consulting Llp and a Mint columnist. The flip side, according to him, is the unintended consequences of turning retail investors into speculators and public listings into a form of lottery.

Institutional investors didn't help either with their anchor allotments, as they deployed lar...