India, Asia’s busiest equity capital market last year, was struggling to regain momentum in 2025 but finally made it in May, topping the region’s follow-on activity by a huge margin.

Now the world’s most populous country, and the fourth-largest global economy after surpassing Japan, India printed USD 5.95bn worth of blocks and placements in May. This marks a 7.1x increase from April’s USD 840m and more than 3.5x the USD 1.68bn from May last year, based on Dealogic data.

May also became India’s strongest month for follow-ons since August 2024’s USD 6.46bn, Dealogic data shows.

“Things are slowly and steadily coming back on track,” said Souvik Saha, vice president and head of International Business at Invesco Asset Management India. “If you stitch all together, yes momentum that has been negative for a while because of…geopolitical factors, all those created caution especially among foreign investors, now slowly these uncertainties are getting closed one by one.”

The nation’s benchmark Nifty 50 Index, hard hit by a flight of foreign funds and earnings downgrades since it touched a record high in September, has steadily recouped lost ground after dropping to a low in April to last hover around levels untouched since October 2024.

While US president Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade agenda, announced early April, disrupted global capital markets, investors’ risk appetite has made a return in May. India’s fundamentals have also been supportive.

In the quarter ended 31 March, India’s gross domestic product expanded 7.4%, beating expectations. A CNBC TV18 poll suggested a 6.8% growth for the fourth quarter.

Not only has India come back, but the market’s reopening also has been remarkable. Four of Asia Pacific’s top 10 follow-ons in May were in India, including the three largest offerings, all of which made it into the region’s top ECM deals year to date.

The three deals were – British American Tobacco’s sale of a 2.5% stake in ITC Ltd on 28 May for INR 129.27bn (USD 1.51bn), Singapore Telecommunications’ disposal of a 1.2% stake in Bharti Airtel for USD 1.5bn, and a 5.7% stake offered by principal shareholders in Interglobe Aviation for USD 1.33bn, Dealogic data show.

A buyside participant said he is happy with the returns since ITC’s block was done.

According to Souvik, expectations for corporate earnings growth in India, on average, will likely come down to 11% towards the end of 2025 from the 16% at the onset of the year. Actual average growth has come in around 9%, suggesting that downside for the Indian market is relatively limited.

But “let’s not be too positive yet,” he said. “let’s wait for another one or two quarters before calling out whether the worst is over.”