Jency Jacob, New Delhi: A bullish equity market has meant companies rushing to raise money from the primary market.

Over Rs 25,000 crore have been raised through new issues in the last one year by 95 companies. But with the subsequent meltdown post Budget, prices of many of these new issues have taken a beating.

But have investors made enough money by investing in IPOs? The mantra for making money in an IPO is clearly this "get out while the going is good".

If you haven't cashed out on listing day itself chances of showing a profit in a bear market are very slim.

Prithvi Haldea from Prime Database said, "On the date of listing, IPOs have given good returns. Whether investors have held on for greater gain or lesser gain is a secondary market issue but overall the track record of IPOs have been outstanding."

Ninety-five companies got listed in the last year out of which 92 companies showed a listing premium of up to 100 per cent.

The three IPOs, which lost money, listed during or after the recent crash. This means that if you had been smart with IPOs - you had enough chances to make a neat profit. But its February that has separated the men from the boys - bearish conditions have sent a few IPOs into the red.

While GBN issued at a price of Rs 250 is currently trading at a premium of 126 per cent Mindtree consulting is up 105 per cent and Idea cellular is showing gains of 28 per cent. But some IPOs have fallen by the wayside.

House of Pearls is down 31 per cent from an issue price of Rs 550 while Mudra Lifestyle has also lost 31 per cent and builder Akruti Nirman is currently trading at a loss of 20 per cent.

Lotus Knowlwealth CEO Ashok Kumar said, "With the second rung and third rung players you need to be dead sure about their business models and the fact that they haven’t priced their issue too far ahead once you do that, you are better off but most of them are advised by their merchant bankers have priced their issue far too aggressively."

Experts also say low priced IPOs need not necessarily be a good bet in the long run.

(With Neha Sharma)