At one point, every fintech in town wanted to be a non-bank and tried its best to get a non-bank license, because conventional wisdom said lending had the best margins. 

But some NBFCs have figured out an even better business: becoming anchor investors in IPOs. 

Usually, large mutual funds, insurance companies, and even pension funds are the institutions that feature on anchor investor lists. But there is a peculiar name that has shouldered its way into the list of top 25 IPO investors in India, according  to Chittorgarh, an IPO data company.  

Rajasthan Global Securities now shares this space with large mutual funds such as SBI Mutual Fund and Sundaram Mutual Fund—both highly sought-after anchor investors. So far, Rajasthan Global Securities has invested Rs 482 crore across 152 IPOs, investing an average of Rs 3 crore per issue. While it has mostly participated in SME IPOs, it has also received allotments in 25 mainboard IPOs, including Tata Capital, which was the country’s largest public listing in 2025. 

And it’s not alone. The 2025 IPO wave is seeing plenty of non-banks—from Winro to Sachin Bansal’s Navi Finserv—pop up as anchor investors. 

Anchor investors play a crucial role in IPOs. Investment bankers woo the top institutions, like mutual funds, to bid for an issue before it opens to retail investors. And it is anchor investors’ interest that becomes a lead indicator for retail investors to take a cue from. So companies filing for IPOs want top anchor investors on their side to showcase demand.

Current regulations are also designed in such a way that these investors stay for the long-term—50% of purchased shares have a 30-day lock-in, while the rest are frozen for 90 days from the time the shares are awarded. 

Now, even though market regulator Sebi and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allow financial institutions like non-banks to be anchor investors, if you go through the list since 2007 (compiled by Chittorgarh), you’ll find none of the significant non-banks like Bajaj Finance or Cholamandalam Finance in it.

But smaller non-banks are not holding back. All they need is the capacity to invest at least Rs 10 crore in a mainboard IPO, as per Sebi’s rules.

Rajasthan Global has been in business since 1995 and has a non-bank license from the RBI.