Calcutta, Jan 5: DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd was the top underwriter of initial public offerings in India last year.

According to the recently released Bloomberg 2006 India Capital Markets League Tables, the investment banker handled eight public issues aggregating Rs 4,366 crore, which was 17.4 per cent of the sum raised through IPOs.

DSP Merrill Lynch was a lead manager of the Rs 5,788-crore public issue of Cairn, Rs 2,700-crore initial public offering of Reliance Petroleum, Rs 801 crore issue of GMR Infrastructure and the Rs 602-crore equity issue of Sun TV.

“The leadership rank reflects DSP Merrill Lynch’s strong franchise across individual and institutional investors. It also reflects our distribution strength in both the local as well as international markets,” said Hemendra Kothari, chairman, DSP Merrill Lynch.

Kothari said 2006 was a year of complex but sizeable deals. “It indicates that our IPO market is fast maturing.”

Enam Financial followed DSP Merrill in the pecking order with underwritings of Rs 3,213 crore. The third place went to JM Morgan Stanley (Rs 2,874 crore). The total market size of IPO underwriting in 2006 was Rs 25,100 crore.