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Akme Fintrade's Rs 132 crore initial public offer (IPO) opened for subscription on Wednesday. The issue, which closes on June 21, is completely a fresh equity sale of 1.1 crore shares.The funds are being raised primarily to augment its capital base. As per RBI norms, the minimum capital adequacy for an NBFC should be 15%.“As we continue to grow our loan portfolio and asset base, we will require additional capital in order to continue to meet applicable capital adequacy ratios with respect to our business,” the company said. In the coming years, the company plans to grow its loan advances which would require tier-1 capital to comply with the applicable capital adequacy regulations. Through the IPO, it would have adequate capital without any further need of fresh capital in the short to medium term.Akme Fintrade IPO reviewGiven that the domestic NBFC sector is very competitive, analysts advised investors to take a cautious approach to the IPO even though the grey market trends indicate high demand.Also Read: DEE Development Engineers IPO to open tomorrow. 10 things to know before subscribing"We are cautious about Akme Fintrade IPO as the inherent risks outweigh the potential benefits for most investors. Thus, we assign a neutral rating to the public offer," said Swastika Investmart.Akme Fintrade IPO price bandThe IPO is priced in the range of Rs 114-120 per share, where investors can bid for 125 shares in one lot. At the upper end, the company plans to raise Rs 132 crore through the issue.Akme Fintrade GMPIn the unlisted market, the company's shares are trading with a premium of Rs 30.Other detailsAkme Fintrade is a non-banking finance company (NBFC) engaged in rural and semi-urban centric lending solutions to look after the needs and aspirations of rural and semi-urban populace. Its portfolio includes vehicle finance and business finance products for small business owners.The company has a long history of serving rural and semi-urban markets with high growth potential and have maintained a track record of financial performance and operational efficiency through consistently high rates of customer acquisition and retention and low cost expansion into underpenetrated areas.In FY23, the company's revenue from operations grew to Rs 69.51 crore from Rs 67.44 crore in the preceding financial year. Meanwhile, profit after tax jumped multifold to Rs 15.80 crore from just Rs 4.12 crore a year earlier.Gretex Corporate Services is acting as the booking running lead manager for the public offer.

The Indian Railways has created over 13000 new vacancies for assistant locopilots (train drivers) in a bid to ease the burden on existing staff. The move comes a day after 10 lives were lost when a goods train ran into the Kanchenjunga Express.According to instructions issued to general managers of all Zonal Railways, 18,799 vacancies for assistant locopilots (ALP) have been approved by the Railway Board. This is over 3.3 times the 5696 vacancies for ALP notified in January 2024.These developments follow concerns flagged by train drivers of fatigue due to inadequate manpower. The long working hours result in lapse of judgement with many instances of signal overruns being highlighted, leading to accidents on the national transporter.