Learn About IPO
Guides, explanations, and a complete glossary for IPO investors
New to IPOs, or sharpening your approach? This hub brings together plain-English guides covering the full IPO journey — from understanding what an IPO is and how to apply, to reading the grey market premium (GMP), live subscription data, the allotment lottery, and lock-in periods. Every guide is written for Indian retail investors and reflects current SEBI rules and the T+3 listing timeline.
Where to Start
If you're new to IPOs, start with What is an IPO?, then learn How to Apply for an IPO and compare payment routes in ASBA vs UPI.
To evaluate an issue before applying, read What is GMP?, What is an Anchor Investor? and our practical guide to How to Read a DRHP. Our methodology page explains how the recommendation badges are scored.
After you apply, the IPO Allotment Process and IPO Lock-in Period guides explain what happens next, and IPO Allotment Chances shows how to work out your real odds. NRIs and OCIs should also see NRI IPO Investing. Keep the IPO Glossary open for any unfamiliar term.
The IPO Timeline, Day by Day
Every mainboard and SME issue in India now follows the same compressed schedule. SEBI cut the listing timeline from T+6 to T+3, voluntary for issues opening on or after 1 September 2023 and mandatory from 1 December 2023. “T” is the day bidding closes, and the days counted are working days.
| Day | What happens | What you should see |
|---|---|---|
| Open → Close | Bidding window, normally three working days. | Funds blocked in your bank account — not debited. |
| T+1 | The registrar finalises the basis of allotment, on or before 6 pm. | Allotment status becomes checkable on the registrar’s site. |
| T+2 | Blocked funds released for unsuccessful applicants; shares credited to demat for successful ones. | Refund or share credit reflected. |
| T+3 | Shares list and begin trading on the exchange. | A live market price replaces the grey market estimate. |
Allotment day and listing day are not the same thing — a point that catches out a lot of first-time applicants. The IPO Allotment Process guide walks through each step in detail.
Who Gets What: Investor Categories and Quotas
A book-built issue is split into reserved portions, and you compete only against other applicants in your own category — never against the whole book. Which split applies depends on whether the company qualifies under the standard profitability route or the QIB route (ICDR Regulation 6(2), used by companies that do not meet the profitability tests).
| Category | Standard route | QIB route (Reg 6(2)) |
|---|---|---|
| QIB — institutions | up to 50% | at least 75% |
| NII / HNI — non-institutional | at least 15% | 15% |
| Retail | at least 35% | 10% |
SEBI consulted on cutting the retail share in large issues during 2025 and then retained it at 35%, so the standard split above still stands. Under the QIB route the issue cannot proceed at all unless QIBs take up their minimum — if they do not, every application is refunded in full. To see how a category’s size translates into your odds, read IPO Allotment Chances.
How You Pay: UPI and ASBA Limits
In both routes the money is blocked rather than debited, so it keeps earning interest until allotment. What differs is the mechanism, and there is a hard ceiling on UPI:
- UPI — capped at ₹5 lakh per transaction and available to individual investors only. You approve a mandate in your UPI app, and the approval window closes at 5 pm on the closing day.
- ASBA via net banking — required for anything above the UPI cap. Applications in the HNI/NII category therefore cannot use UPI at all.
- One application per PAN. Duplicates across the same PAN are rejected, not merged.
ASBA vs UPI compares the two side by side, including which brokers support what.
What Changed for SME IPOs in 2025
If you last applied to an SME issue before mid-2025, the rules you remember are out of date. The BSE and NSE norms that took effect on 1 July 2025 changed who can apply and how:
- The Retail Individual Investor category was replaced by a single “Individual Investor” category.
- The minimum application is now two lots, valued above ₹2 lakh — so the smaller ticket sizes that used to make SME issues accessible no longer exist.
- The cut-off price option was removed for SME issues. It remains available on mainboard book-built issues.
- Downward bid revision and bid cancellation were removed, so an SME bid is effectively a commitment once placed.
The practical effect is that SME issues now demand a materially larger commitment per application than mainboard ones, where the retail ticket typically runs around ₹14,000–₹16,000.
A Note on What This Site Can and Cannot Tell You
Grey market premium is an unofficial, unregulated indicator with no bearing on the allotment you receive, and it can move sharply in the days before listing — our GMP guide sets out how often it has actually predicted listing direction. Allotment odds published before an issue closes are estimates, because the number of applications per category is not public until the registrar releases the basis of allotment. Everything here is educational and is not investment advice; the risk factors in the issue’s RHP are the authoritative source on any specific company.
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