SBI Funds pays razor-thin banker fees on top India IPO of 2026

SBI Funds Management, India's largest asset manager jointly owned by State Bank of India and France's Amundi SA, is conducting the top India IPO of 2026 with bankers splitting just 46.25 million rupees in fees (0.05% of deal value). This fee compression follows a familiar pattern in state-owned enterprise offerings such as LIC's IPO and SBI's 2024 QIP, where banks accept nominal compensation for prestige, league-table credit and relationship-building. Wall Street firms including Citigroup and JPMorgan declined roles due to the unusually low fees, while the average underwriting fee on Indian IPOs in 2025 was 1.86% of issue size per LSEG data.