The Listing Story: How PR Can Make or Break an SME IPO

 

BSE SME and NSE Emerge have opened India's capital markets to thousands of ambitious mid-sized businesses. 
But a prospectus alone does not build investor confidence - a narrative does.

250+

SME IPOs listed in FY25

 ₹12,000Cr+

Capital raised via SME platforms

12–18

Weeks: ideal PR runway pre-DRHP

The BSE SME and NSE Emerge platforms have transformed access to public capital for India's growth-stage businesses. Yet the majority of SME promoters treat IPO communication as an afterthought - a press release on listing day and a few calls to financial journalists. That is a missed opportunity, and increasingly, a strategic risk.

When Finese PR works on an IPO mandate, the first question we ask is not "who do we send the DRHP to?" 

It is "what is the one thing this company must be known for in its sector, and does the market believe it yet?" 

Without that answer, no amount of media coverage will translate into subscriptions.

"An IPO is not a financial event. It is a reputation event that happens to have a financial outcome."

The three phases of SME IPO communications:

• Pre-DRHP (12–18 weeks out): Build the earned media base. Position the promoter as a sector voice through op-eds, media interviews, and analyst briefings. The goal is that by the time the DRHP is filed, the business is already known in the right circles.

• DRHP to Red Herring Prospectus (quiet period navigation): SEBI's quiet period restrictions are real, but they don't prevent a company from telling its story through existing customers, partners, and industry bodies. Structured third-party endorsement is the tool of choice here.

• Listing day and post-listing: Listing day coverage is table stakes. What matters more is the 90-day narrative after listing, sustaining retail and institutional interest, managing share price commentary, and beginning the investor relations discipline that listed life demands.

The Finese Approach to SME IPO Mandates

We have helped businesses establish category niches where none previously existed: from insurance brokering to unified threat management to podiatry. The same muscle applies to listing narratives: we build the USP first, then take it to market. Our average client engagement of 4+ years means we are often present before the listing decision is even made, which is exactly when the communications groundwork should begin.

For SME promoters preparing to list in FY2026-27, three questions are worth asking before engaging any PR firm: 

• Can they get you into publications your target institutional investors actually read? 
• Do they understand SEBI's communication regulations around the quiet period? 
• And will the founders, and not the account executives, be at the table every meeting? 

The answers will tell you everything.

    

Business to Business Communications and how we can help...

Two and a half decades of focused B2B communication experience can be the difference between being noticed and being trusted in India’s competitive business environment. 

Since the beginning, Finese PR has worked with B2B companies across technology, manufacturing, infrastructure, professional services, education and BFSI to build reputation, shape narratives and manage complex stakeholder relationships. 

Our long-term exposure to business cycles, policy changes and evolving industries in India allows us to anticipate issues and create communication that supports real business goals, not just short-term visibility.

As a boutique agency, our clients work directly with experienced consultants rather than large layers of juniors. We offer public relations, investor relations, corporate and marketing communications, digital outreach and content development that includes leadership speeches, thought leadership and website copy. Every engagement begins with understanding the business in detail so that communication remains practical, consistent and aligned to the clients' growth plans.

Our strength also lies in relationships built steadily over years with media, analysts and industry influencers. These connections are based on trust and insight, not transactions, which helps our clients engage decision makers with clarity and credibility.

When you work with Finese PR, you gain a specialist partner that thinks like an extension of your leadership team. We bring perspective, discipline and continuity that only long experience can provide. For B2B companies in India looking for a dependable PR partner, Finese PR offers communication that is clear, relevant and built for lasting reputation.

A Year of Purposeful Communication and Shared Progress

The year gone by has been one of gratitude, growth, and standing shoulder to shoulder with our clients as trusted communication partners in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Across NBFCs, Manufacturing, IT, Startups, FMCG, Retail, and Education, our mandates spanned reputation building, thought leadership, stakeholder engagement, employer branding, and agile issue management. 

Each engagement deepened our belief in the power of narrative, especially in sectors where credibility, clarity, and speed are non-negotiable. 

The trust our clients placed in us, alongside the investor community’s growing emphasis on transparent, purpose-led communication, has been our strongest catalyst.

Guided by the idea that it’s never too late to dream bigger, we leaned into experimentation: We embraced digital-first storytelling, integrated campaigns, and newer formats that aligned policy, product, people, and platforms. 

In IT and startups, we amplified innovation-led stories. 

In FMCG and retail, we stayed rooted in the consumer’s everyday reality. 

In education, we humanised aspiration and impact.

Challenges, too, became opportunities. Market headwinds pushed us to sharpen strategy and elevate storytelling. 

In manufacturing, we highlighted resilience and the spirit of Make in India. 

In the NBFC sector, we built confidence by simplifying complexity. 

Across industries, we helped brands forge stronger connections with customers, partners, talent, and communities.

2026 and Beyond:

As we step into the future, communication will be more data-informed, more human, and more impact-driven. 

We see a growing need for agile storytelling, sharper stakeholder listening, and narratives that balance performance with purpose. 

We’re excited to deepen our craft, invest in insight-led strategies, and co-create the next chapter of growth with our clients.

We close the year grateful for the trust, inspired by the learning, and energised by what lies ahead. 

The year that was...

2022 was a bittersweet year for Finese PR but very very heavy on education...

We lost a long standing client after 8 years in March this year. Only saving grace was that it wasn't because of us, anything but... And the client's top management team continues to be a great friend and ally, recommending us to all who listen, and even to some who don't...

"Celebrate Endings for they precede new beginnings"

- J. L. Huie

Then was a slew of "education" in 2022...

We are a "Knowledge focused consultancy" and we firmly believe in knowing quite a bit about the sectors that the clients operate in. This is easier said than done, but we've become known as the "go-to people" for the media and analysts when it comes to domain focused trends and information, and this is something that we are quite proud of.

So, when we got three new clients belonging to categories totally different to what was usual - it meant a huge amount of reading up to understand the domains. We had to educate ourselves before we could go out and promote them. And boy, was it difficult!!! In all cases, the clients helped us quicken the process and today we are quite well informed about their domains too.

“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.”

- Brian Tracy

We're thankful for the learning, the opportunity to make a difference and the focus on the new and the diverse.

To all relationships, old and new, here's to a Great New Year...

 

Importance of Content in Communication in the millennial era

The supremacy of Content in Communication is well established by now. For effective communication there has to be relevant content. So the real question should be “Relevant Content for Effective Communication”. Communication involves a Dialogue and for the dialogue to proceed the content has to be relevant otherwise the Communication becomes a Monologue.

Image Credit: www.finesepr.com

Nobody wants a Monologue. However in the present era with multitude of sources for content, it is a challenge to identify relevant Content. Most of us approach this problem by trying to identify the target audience and the content sources catering to the audience to create relevant content. However this has its own challenges. Multiple streams of the same content have to be created to target multiple audiences. Most of us fail in this challenge especially due to the fact that by the time we create the streams, the audience has lost interest or has moved on. This is because we are living in an era of instant news and gratification. The bombardment of information is so huge that somewhere the information givers have forgotten the capacity of the Downloads.

 Image Credit: www.woodst.com

My suggestion for nimble footed amongst us is to work with the content that we have, instead of churning out streams of content. Every bit if content is relevant to some audience somewhere. All we need to do is identify the relevant audience instead of creating relevant content. Once we upload our available content to the target group, based on the response, we can go ahead with the decision to create or not create further streams of content. In military parlance, I would call the Scud Missile approach whereas what we all are trying to do is undertaking a Carpet Bombing approach.

In today’s fast paced world, what is news now will not remain news in a few hours from now. So instead of chasing news cycles, we should be concentrating on creating something which is relevant to our own ecosystem.Relevance will automatically generate News and that too with credibility. Once the credibility of our content is established we can be sure that our content will always find relevance.

NGT's Diesel ban and implications...

Yesterday's blanket ban on Diesel vehicles of over 10 years of age by National Green Tribunal has far-reaching implications and NO, these are not limited to only cars for personal use, which all media reports seem to be suggesting!

Besides the de-registering of these vehicles by Delhi RTO, another major aspect of NGT's order is that no diesel vehicle older than 10 year old will be allowed to enter Delhi. 

The issues are many and have way serious ramifications, and most of them are related to the logistics and transportation sector. Transportation industry today has around 6.6% trucks which are above 13 years of age, as per a FICCI study. It would go up to around 10% or more for trucks above 10 years of age, across India.

In India, 65% of overall freight movement is through roads(trucks). In the segment of over 250 Kms, this becomes more than 80% with only 20% with the Railways. 

In Delhi alone, out of 6 lakh diesel vehicles, over 1.2 lakh are commercial vehicles of 10 years and above of age and these will now be prohibited from plying in Delhi. This constitutes 20% of the total commercial vehicles in Delhi. The numbers that we are talking about are stupendous.

In Delhi/India, most of the products are moved by trucks and with transporters forced to look at ROI in a shorter time-span, the costs are bound to go up. We are already reeling under a high inflation and with higher transportation cost, the products are going to be costlier. Most of the food items / agricultural and animal produce for Delhi's consumption comes from outside of Delhi, so Delhiites need to be prepared to shell out more for groceries and other purchases.

Any movement for industry/businesses/any activity will also be adversely impacted and costs are bound to go up. The cost of transportation will increase substantially leading to an increase in pricing. The B2B businesses will be impacted more, since the B2C businesses may still be able to pass on the increase to the end consumers. There will be pressure on margins in the immediate future.

All in all, we need to be prepared for increased costs, higher inflation and pressure on margins, in the short to mid term, because of the NGT order.

In the connected world, everything you ever say, WILL come back to haunt you!!!

pic courtesy: www.indianexpress.com

Today's headlines - Sidhu & AAP coming together - have an interesting aside. 

And I am not talking about the effect of the "union" on Punjab elections for 2017, where AAP was already a strong contender and  Sidhu has a strong background.

I am talking about how two similar(too verbose, too talkative) brands come together and the issues that they may face due to their "social media" engagements.

AAP has been using social media to reach out to the masses very effectively and so has Sidhu. Issue is that they specialize in mud-slinging too. And the fact that they were pitted against each other since the last two years did not help either.

On the one hand, we have AAP which has called Sidhu, "Farar", "absconder", and many similar names, and on the other, in Sidhu, we have a person who has been vehement in his fascination for the "dharnebaaz-dramebaaz" party and has ridiculed them often.

And unfortunately, despite AAP and Sidhu quickly deleting their "anti" each-other rants, most people are enjoying themselves at their expenses. The fun never stops on Twitter, with more and more people joining in the melee. It would also be a lot of fun watching what they say when they do come together!!!

Learnings:

•  In an industry(politics) where there are no permanent friends and foes, a semblance of decorum will cause lesser embarrassments
• Communication is important. Reach out to all "online", by all means but taking pot-shots at others as per convenience, is immensely avoidable
•  Learn to share "relevant" stuff, lest the less than relevant stuff haunts you for-ever!
• Whatever we may say or do is in the public domain today and it is imperative that we use the tools available to us sensibly and with a lot of caution.
• Better to be safe than sorry!