Learn

Guides to how Indian IPOs actually work — the mechanics behind the numbers on the live board, written to be useful rather than promotional. None of it is investment advice.

Applying

What to get right before the window closes
Lot size and minimum application
Why a lot is 17 shares in one issue and 1,600 in another, why SME applications cost seven times more, cut-off bidding, and how many lots actually improves your odds.
Why applications get rejected
Missed UPI mandates, duplicate PANs, bids below the final price and name mismatches — the procedural failures that keep an application out of the draw entirely.
How to check allotment status
Where to check with the registrar or BSE, when allotment is finalised, why a valid application often comes back empty, and how ASBA refunds work.

Following an issue

Reading the numbers while bidding is open
Subscription status explained
How QIB, sNII, bNII and retail categories work, why an issue can be 40x subscribed and still short in one category, and what oversubscription does to your allotment odds.
Anchor investors
Who bids a day before the book opens, how up to 60% of the QIB portion gets spoken for, the 30 and 90-day lock-ins, and how to read an anchor book without over-reading it.
What is IPO GMP?
Grey Market Premium, Kostak and Subject-to-Sauda explained — how the quotes are formed, what they can tell you, and where they mislead.
Listing day
The pre-open call auction between 9:00 and 10:00, how the opening price is discovered, circuit limits on a stock with no history, and what listing gain really measures.

Judging an issue

The documents and the arithmetic behind the price
How to read a red herring prospectus
A 500-page offer document has about eight sections worth your time. Which ones they are, and the parts that most reward scepticism.
Valuation basics
Pre and post-issue EPS, return on net worth, net asset value and the implied P/E — how to read the arithmetic a company publishes to justify its own price.
SME vs mainboard
NSE Emerge and BSE SME against the mainboard: application size, disclosure cadence, research coverage, liquidity, migration, and where the real risk sits.
IPO glossary
ASBA, DRHP, RHP, anchor investor, cut-off price, offer for sale, lock-in and the rest of the vocabulary, in plain English.

Live data

Live GMP & subscription board
Every open, upcoming and recently listed issue
SME IPOs
NSE Emerge and BSE SME issues
IPO pipeline
SEBI DRHP and RHP filings, ahead of the exchanges
GMP accuracy
How well GMP has predicted actual listing gains, including the misses

Start here if an IPO page looks like jargon

An Indian IPO runs to a fixed script, and almost every number on this site belongs to one of its steps. If the pages look dense, this is the order things happen in.

  1. The company files with SEBI. A draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) appears months ahead. It carries the business, the financials and the risks, but no price and no dates. Our pipeline page tracks these.
  2. The price band and dates are set. Close to the issue, the red herring prospectus fixes a band — say ₹285 to ₹301 — a lot size, and a three-day bidding window. Only now do the exchanges start publishing the issue.
  3. Anchor investors bid a day early. Institutions take a slice before the book opens, at a price they commit to. It is the first real signal of demand.
  4. Bidding opens for three days. The exchanges publish subscription figures through the day, split by category — QIB, NII and retail each have their own reservation and fill independently. How to read those figures.
  5. Allotment is finalised. If retail was oversubscribed, allotment is a draw rather than a proportion. Where to check yours.
  6. The stock lists. A special pre-open session discovers an opening price; that is the listing price, and it is what we score grey market premium against on the accuracy page.

Running alongside all of this is the grey market premium — a price private dealers quote for an allotment before listing. It is not an exchange figure, it is not recognised by SEBI, and it is the number most likely to be quoted at you as though it were a forecast. What it actually is, and how often it has been right.

Nothing in this section is investment advice. It explains what the terms mean and where the numbers come from, so you can read the data yourself.