Joyalukkas shelved its ₹2,300 crore IPO — and kept the debt it was meant to repay

Joyalukkas is a UAE-based jewellery group: founder Joy Alukkas opened his first outlet in Abu Dhabi in 1987 and a Dubai showroom the same year, and the group now reports annual turnover of about US$2 billion with a presence in the UAE and 10 other countries. Its Indian arm, Joyalukkas India Ltd, is based in Kerala and operates showrooms across roughly 68 cities — one of the country's biggest jewellery retailers.

In March 2022 the Indian arm filed its draft prospectus for a ₹2,300 crore (about US$278 million) initial public offering. Around ₹1,400 crore of the proceeds were earmarked to repay or pre-pay debt, with the rest set aside for new showrooms and general corporate purposes. The group had already put listing plans on hold once, in 2018, and the company was originally scheduled to announce the IPO date in early 2023.

Instead, on 21 February 2023 a document on the market regulator SEBI's website showed the IPO had been withdrawn. The company said it 'needed more time to incorporate substantial changes to its financial results'; chief executive Baby George told Reuters it planned to refile 'at the earliest, subject to market conditions'. No further explanation was given.

The withdrawal left the ₹1,400 crore debt repayment the listing was built around unscheduled and the store expansion shelved — a year of preparation, draft prospectus and book-running arrangements ended in a retreat that was, for the group, a second one. Joyalukkas survived and kept trading; the cost was the abandoned raise, the retained borrowing, and the second shelved attempt at a public listing.