IPO Glossary

The process by which the IPO registrar finalises who gets shares and how many, after the subscription window closes.

Institutional investor that bids one working day before the IPO opens to retail, with a 30-90 day lock-in on allotted shares.

Application Supported by Blocked Amount — SEBI-mandated mechanism where bid funds are blocked in the applicant's bank account, not debited.

The exchange-approved document that explains how oversubscribed IPO shares are distributed across applicants.

Price discovery process where bids across a price band are collected and the final issue price is set based on demand.

Merchant banker appointed by the issuer to manage the IPO end-to-end — pricing, marketing, anchor allocation, and underwriting.

The upper end of the price band — retail investors bidding at cut-off automatically accept whatever final price is set.

Electronic account that holds dematerialised securities — required to apply for, hold, and trade IPO shares.

The initial offer document filed with SEBI for review — contains business overview, risks, financials, and intended use of proceeds.

Net profit divided by the number of equity shares outstanding — basic profitability metric on a per-share basis.

Portion of the IPO where new shares are created and proceeds go to the company for capex, debt repayment, or working capital.

Unofficial price quoted in the grey market over the IPO's upper price band — sentiment indicator, not a guaranteed return.

Non-Institutional Investor category — bids above ₹2 lakh, allotted on a proportional basis, no cut-off bidding.

Unique 12-character code that identifies a specific security globally — assigned post-listing for IPO shares.

Final price at which IPO shares are allotted — equals the upper band on book-built issues for retail bidders who bid at cut-off.

Total rupee value of the IPO — sum of fresh issue and offer-for-sale components.

Flat rupee amount paid by a grey market buyer for an IPO application — regardless of whether allotment happens.

Percentage premium of the listing-day open price (or close price) over the issue price — primary metric for IPO Day 1 performance.

Mandatory holding period during which pre-IPO shareholders cannot sell their stake — SEBI rules apply to promoters, anchors, and pre-IPO investors.

Minimum number of shares an investor can apply for — fixed by the issuer such that one lot is approximately ₹14,000-15,000 at the upper band.

Standard NSE / BSE IPO platform for established companies — minimum net tangible asset of ₹3 crore and operating profit history required.

Formal SEBI term for HNI — bids above ₹2 lakh, sub-divided into Small NII (₹2-10 lakh) and Big NII (above ₹10 lakh).

Disclosed purposes for which the IPO's fresh-issue proceeds will be used, with rupee amounts attached.

Portion of the IPO where existing shareholders sell their stake — proceeds go to the seller, not the company.

When IPO receives more bids than the available shares — expressed as a multiple of issue size (e.g., 30x oversubscribed).

Share price divided by earnings per share — the most commonly cited valuation multiple for comparing across companies.

Range within which applicants can bid — final issue price is determined within this band via book building.

Founding shareholder(s) who exercise control over the company — subject to specific SEBI lock-in and disclosure requirements.

Institutional investor category — mutual funds, banks, FIIs, insurance companies. Allotted ~50% of mainboard issues.

SEBI-registered intermediary that manages allotment, refunds, and dematerialisation — Link Intime, KFin, Bigshare, Cameo, Skyline.

IPO bidder with total bid value up to ₹2 lakh — entitled to cut-off bidding and the 35% retail reservation in mainboard IPOs.

The final offer document filed with SEBI before the IPO opens — includes price band, dates, and any updates to the DRHP content.

Issue listed on NSE Emerge or BSE SME platform — lighter eligibility criteria, smaller issue size, ₹1 lakh minimum retail bid.

Conditional grey market transaction — the deal crystallises only if the applicant is allotted shares.

Total number of bids received versus the available shares — tracked in real time during the bidding window across QIB / NII / Retail categories.

Pre-authorisation request from a broker to the applicant's UPI app to block IPO bid amount in the linked bank.