New Delhi: The worldwide initial public offerings (IPO) in the financial year 2006 were worth a record $246 billion, according to a new study by Ernst & Young. The Indian IPO market emerged as the eighth largest, with $7.23 billion in net proceeds through 78 public issues, the report said.

According to the report, across the world, companies raised $246 billion, up from $167 billion in 2005, through a total of 1,729 IPOs. The IPOs were led by Chinese companies, who were at the top with net proceeds of $56.6 billion.

However, the largest number of IPOs came from the US with 187 offerings, followed by Japan with 185 and China with 175 IPOs.

"India''s IPO market has been fairly broad-based in terms of transaction, although energy companies dominated with more than 50 per cent share of funds raised," the report, titled `Globalization,'' said.

Mukesh Ambani''s Reliance Petroleum, which raised $1.8 billion, ranked in the global Top 20 IPOs, which together raised $84 billion, representing 35 per cent of the total capital raised by all IPOs.

Emerging markets retained their favoured status with the four BRIC countries seeing combined IPO activity to the tune of $86 billion in 2006, up from $29 billion in 2005, while the number of listings almost doubled to 279, the report said.