India’s private secondary market is getting big enough to matter. Transactions in unlisted companies reached about ₹37,700 crore in FY25, up 32% in a year. In the first six months of FY26 alone, they touched ₹36,100 crore. Average deal size rose from ₹228 crore in FY20 to ₹839 crore in H1 FY26.

There is a real reason for this. Indian venture funds now take about 7.2 years, on average, to return even 1x capital to their LPs, according to Oister and CRISIL. Funds raised years ago cannot keep showing investors paper gains forever. Someone eventually wants cash.

Secondaries help solve that problem. Early investors get DPI, employees can sell ESOPs, founders can take some money off the table, and new investors can enter companies that no longer need much primary capital.

The mistake is to treat every founder sale as a warning sign. Urban Company’s founders sold roughly ₹780 crore of shares before its IPO, yet still owned about 20% of the company together and did not sell in the IPO OFS. The more useful question is not how many crores a founder sold, but how much of his or her total economic exposure disappeared.

The risk begins when these private shares are sold further down the chain to people with far less information.

A large fund buying shares gets access to lawyers, financial data, management and negotiated terms. A retail or HNI buyer on an unlisted-share platform may get little more than an asking price and a promise that an IPO is coming.

HDB Financial’s unlisted shares traded around ₹1,200 to ₹1,350 before its IPO was priced at ₹700 to ₹740. Tata Capital shares had traded as high as ₹1,125 before the IPO came at ₹310 to ₹326. In both cases, formal public-market price discovery cut sharply through grey-market prices.

That is the real regulatory problem. India does need private-market liquidity. What it does not need is a shadow exchange where prices look public, marketing looks public and participation starts looking public, while disclosure and investor protection remain private.

SEBI should not try to stop secondaries. It should regulate the machinery around them: platforms, price displays, inventory, marketing and distribution.

Founders taking some liquidity is not the problem. The problem starts when shares move from the people with the most information to the people with the least.

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

Bombay Shaving Company has revised its ‘Switch4’ ad after a Delhi HC direction following Gillette’s complaint.

BSC founder Shantanu Deshpande said the company stands by the campaign.

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Swiggy has rolled out Early Cashout, letting delivery partners withdraw earnings on demand instead of waiting for weekly payouts.

The feature covers over 6.5 lakh riders across 720+ cities, with payments credited within an hour.

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SEBI has approved Kuku Technologies’ IPO, with the audio OTT startup targeting a ₹2,500-3,500 Cr issue.

The IPO will include both fresh shares and an offer for sale, potentially valuing Kuku at ₹15,000 Cr.

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Applied Materials has committed $5 Bn to strengthen India’s semiconductor ecosystem over the next decade.

The investment aims to integrate India deeper into the global semiconductor value chain under its Vision 2035.

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Practo has elevated Jagnoor Singh to CEO, while founder Shashank ND moves to MD and executive chairman.

The reshuffle comes as the healthtech startup expands globally, focuses on AI and eyes a public listing.

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India has secured around ₹1 Lakh Cr in investment commitments under Semicon 2.0, said Vaishnaw at Semicon India 2026.

The ₹1.28 Lakh Cr program targets nearly 1 Lakh jobs across chips, fabs, packaging, R&D and talent.

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The Centre has rejected claims that UPI’s new MDR on select transactions was introduced under external pressure.

It said the move aims to support smaller payment apps and expand domestic competition.

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