2026 IPO Listing Gains So Far: Why the Median Tells a Different Story
By IPO Cracker Editorial Team ·
Listing gains get quoted as averages, and averages flatter. We took every IPO that listed in India from January to 12 October 2026 (282 issues: 101 Mainboard and 181 SME) and compared the listing-day opening price with the issue price. The question this time is narrower than in our earlier listing-day study: in 2026 alone, what did the typical IPO pay, rather than the average one?
The headline numbers
| Mainboard | SME | |
|---|---|---|
| IPOs listed | 101 | 181 |
| Average listing gain | +13.3% | +11.7% |
| Median listing gain | +7.2% | +2.3% |
| Opened above issue price | 67 (66.3%) | 104 (57.5%) |
| Opened at issue price | 6 | 19 |
| Opened below issue price | 28 | 58 |
On averages alone the two segments look close: about 13% against 12%. The median tells a different story. The typical Mainboard listing opened 7.2% up; the typical SME listing opened just 2.3% up. SME averages are carried by a smaller group of very strong debuts, while the middle of the pack barely moved.
How the outcomes are spread
| Listing-day outcome | Mainboard | SME |
|---|---|---|
| Lost more than 10% | 7 | 34 |
| Lost up to 10% | 21 | 24 |
| Flat | 6 | 19 |
| Gained up to 10% | 23 | 46 |
| Gained 10% to 25% | 21 | 19 |
| Gained 25% to 50% | 16 | 17 |
| Gained 50% or more | 7 | 22 |
The difference is in the tails. One SME listing in five (34 of 181) opened more than 10% below its issue price, against about one in fourteen on the Mainboard (7 of 101). At the other end, 22 SME issues gained 50% or more, three times the Mainboard count.
SME gains are also capped. On listing day the opening price of an SME IPO cannot be more than 90% above the issue price, and 12 SME issues this year opened exactly at that ceiling. No such cap applies to the Mainboard, which is how Tempsens Instruments could open at ₹634 against a ₹300 issue price, a gain of 111.3%.
Quarter by quarter
| Listed in | Mainboard | Avg gain | Above issue | SME | Avg gain | Above issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan–Mar | 16 | +0.8% | 37.5% | 39 | +1.1% | 48.7% |
| Apr–Jun | 11 | +4.6% | 63.6% | 38 | +9.3% | 55.3% |
| Jul–Sep | 64 | +18.2% | 75.0% | 80 | +17.6% | 63.8% |
| Oct (to 12th) | 10 | +11.6% | 60.0% | 24 | +13.4% | 54.2% |
The year split in two. In the first quarter, fewer than four in ten Mainboard IPOs opened above their issue price and both segments averaged roughly flat. The July–September quarter was the busiest and the strongest by far: 144 listings, averages near 18%, and three in four Mainboard issues opening in profit. Any full-year average is mostly a statement about that one quarter.
Does issue size matter?
| Mainboard issue size | IPOs | Avg gain | Above issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under ₹500 crore | 47 | +10.9% | 68.1% |
| ₹500–2,000 crore | 39 | +18.5% | 64.1% |
| Over ₹2,000 crore | 13 | +7.8% | 69.2% |
| SME issue size | IPOs | Avg gain | Above issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under ₹25 crore | 34 | +11.4% | 58.8% |
| ₹25–50 crore | 84 | +13.7% | 59.5% |
| Over ₹50 crore | 52 | +11.6% | 57.7% |
Size made little difference to how often an issue opened in profit: every bucket sits between 58% and 69%. The largest Mainboard issues gained least on average, which fits a simple pattern: big issues need broad institutional demand to fill, and that demand is usually priced in. (Issue size is missing for a few listings, so these tables cover 99 Mainboard and 170 SME issues.)
The extremes
- Best Mainboard debut: Tempsens Instruments, ₹300 to ₹634 (+111.3%).
- Weakest Mainboard debut: Shree Ram Twistex, ₹104 to ₹68 (−34.6%).
- Weakest SME debut: Himalayan Solar, ₹103 to ₹73.50 (−28.6%).
- Best SME debuts: twelve issues tied at the +90% opening cap.
What we take from it
- Look at the median, not the average. For SME issues in particular, the average is pulled up by a minority of capped debuts. The typical outcome was a low single-digit gain.
- SME risk shows up as losses, not just smaller gains. Nearly one SME listing in five opened down more than 10%. With SME applications now starting above ₹2 lakh (see what changed for SME applicants), a 10% drop is more than ₹20,000 gone on day one.
- Timing dominated. The same kind of IPO paid very differently in the first quarter than in the third. Market mood at listing mattered more than segment or size.
How we measured
Gain is the listing-day opening price against the final issue price (the upper end of the price band where the final price was not separately announced). Where an IPO listed on both exchanges the two opening prices can differ slightly; we use the opening price we record for each issue, and a few anomalous figures were checked against exchange listing reports. Listing day is a single day: these numbers say nothing about where any stock traded afterwards.
Listing-by-listing detail is in our listing performance tracker. For how grey market premium compared with these outcomes, see does IPO GMP predict the listing price.