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By Hritam Mukherjee
(Reuters) -India's markets regulator has approved JSW Cement's [JSWC.NS] initial public offering, a notification on the regulator's website showed on Monday, four months after it put the IPO on hold for reasons it did not disclose.
The cement-making arm of the steel-to-energy JSW group filed for an IPO worth up to 40 billion rupees ($461.52 million) in August, aiming to capitalise on the country's booming stock market and long-term demand growth expectations for the building material.
In 2024, 91 large firms went public and raised a record 1.6 trillion rupees via IPOs, according to analytics firm Prime Database, with the bull run expected to continue in 2025.
"The approval came later than expected but came at the right time for the company as investor focus now shifts towards capital expenditure allocations in the upcoming federal budget, which would bring sectors like cement under the spotlight," said Mahesh Ojha, a research analyst at Hensex Securities.
India's finance minister will present the country's annual budget for 2025/2026 on Feb. 1.
"Plus, the parent group is well-known, so I expect strong investor interest in this IPO, especially from institutions for their long-term investment priorities," Ojha added.
The sector has been witnessing increased dealmaking recently, led by a face-off between Aditya Birla Group's UltraTech - the market leader - and its challenger, Adani-owned Ambuja Cements, while depressed prices and demand cool-down also weigh on the earnings of listed firms.
JSW Cement had said it would issue fresh shares worth 20 billion rupees, with existing shareholders also selling shares worth the same amount.
($1 = 86.6710 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)