Everything you need to know before applying to an IPO.
An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is when a company issues shares to the public for the first time, transitioning from a privately held company to a publicly traded one. Companies use IPOs to raise capital for expansion, debt repayment, or other business needs.
A price band is the floor and cap price within which investors can bid for shares during an IPO. For example, a price band of ₹345–350 means you can place bids anywhere within that range.
Lot size is the minimum number of shares you must apply for in an IPO. Additional shares must be applied for in multiples of the lot size. For instance, with a lot size of 40, you can apply for 40, 80, or 120 shares, and so on.
Cut-off price is the final issue price decided by the company after book-building. Bidding at cut-off means you agree to pay whatever price is finalized, up to the cap of the price band. Any excess amount paid is refunded after allotment.
Retail Individual Investors (RII) can bid up to ₹2 lakh. Bids above ₹2 lakh fall under the High Net-worth Individual (HNI) / Non-Institutional Investor (NII) category, which has different allotment rules.
Once allotment is finalized, you can check status on the BSE website using your application number and PAN, or directly through the registrar's website (e.g. KFin Technologies or Link Intime) using your application number, DP ID/Client ID, or PAN.
When an issue is oversubscribed, bidding for multiple lots from the same account doesn't improve odds — only one lot is allotted per application. Applying from separate accounts (e.g. family members with their own demat accounts) does increase overall odds.