Asian stock markets are higher today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Nikkei 225 is up 0.03% while the Hang Seng is up 0.16%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 0.02%. On Wall Street, all the three major indices once again climbed to new record closing highs as market participants looked ahead to key corporate earnings reports.

Back home, share markets in India have opened the day on a flattish note with a negative bias. The BSE Sensex is trading lower by 10 points while the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 3 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap index opened the day up by 0.2% & 0.3% respectively.

Sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with stocks from banking sector and consumer durables sector leading the pack of gainers. While, realty stocks and metal stocks are witnessing selling pressure. The rupee is trading at 64.76 to the US$.

Bank stocks have opened the day in green with Federal Bank and Karur Vysya Bank being the most active stocks in this space. As per an article in Livemint, Punjab National Bank (PNB) plans to raise equity capital through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) that could see the lender raise as much as US$250-300 million.

Notably, PNB is among the several state-owned banks that have planned to tap the capital markets to raise funds in order to recapitalize balance sheets laden with bad loans.

Apart from the QIP, the state-owned lender has planned to raise funds from various other avenues too.

The lender is looking to sell as much as 10% in its housing finance unit and list its life insurance subsidiary, the reports noted.

Last week, Dena Bank raised around Rs 4 billion through its QIP offering. Allahabad Bank has already obtained shareholders' approval to raise equity capital aggregating up to Rs 20 billion, the reports noted.

Further, Bank of India was looking to raise Rs 5 billion through a QIP.

This year, QIP fund-raising activity has been dominated by large issuances in the banking and financial services sector. Till September this year, 20 companies had raised Rs 396.8 billion through QIPs.

Speaking of QIP route of equity raising, QIPs tend to be a faster way to raise capital as the dealing happens with a few investors - only institutions in this case. And this is why companies prefer this route - because of its convenience and fewer resource requirements compared to other methods of raising equity.

QIPs Poised to Scale Fresh Peak in 2017

Interestingly, QIPs are set to touch a record high in 2017. Buoyancy in the market and positive sentiment towards primary issuances are giving confidence to companies and investment bankers to push ahead with their capital-raising plans.

PNB share price opened up by 0.8%.

Moving on to the news from IPO space. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Mahindra Group's logistics arm has received the go-ahead from market regulator to garner about Rs 7 billion through an initial share-sale offering.

The public issue of Mahindra Logistics comprises sale of 19.3 million equity shares. This includes the sale of 9.7 million shares, amounting to 13.7% stake, by the parent firm Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and Axis Capital will manage the company's IPO.

Interestingly, Business Standard reported that, fund-raising through the IPO route has hit a record high so far in 2017, crossing Rs 400 billion mark.

Thus far in the calendar year 2017 (CY17), 28 companies have collectively mopped up Rs 448.5 billion through IPOs, surpassing its previous high recorded seven year ago. In entire CY10, as many as 64 companies had raised Rs 375.4 billion via IPOs.

Till September 2017, 24 companies had raised Rs 308.5 billion in first nine months of CY17. In October, four companies - Godrej Agrovet, MAS Financial Services, Indian Energy Exchange and GIC Re - have collectively mobilized around Rs 140 billion, taking tally to Rs 448.5 billion in CY17.

During such a time, it's beneficial to be very selective when investing in IPOs. Carefully analyze each company for its own merits and don't give in to the hype surrounding the public offering.