SRIT India IPO Closes 125 Times Subscribed as Institutions Pour In During the Final Hours

The institutional investors who were missing from SRIT India's IPO for most of its run showed up in force before the book closed. The Rs 218.4-crore issue ended Wednesday subscribed 125.13 times overall, and the qualified institutional buyer (QIB) portion, which stood at only about 0.11 times at midday, finished at 91.84 times. Our midday report had flagged that empty QIB book as the key question hanging over the issue.

The final numbers

Bidding closed with demand for about 147.1 crore shares against 1.176 crore on offer, excluding the anchor portion. At the upper end of the Rs 123-130 price band, bids were worth roughly Rs 19,129 crore.

The category-wise picture at close:

• Non-institutional investors: 312.98 times, with the larger HNI segment (bids above Rs 10 lakh) at 355.80 times and the smaller segment at 227.33 times
• Qualified institutional buyers (ex-anchor): 91.84 times
• Retail investors: 63.64 times

How the afternoon changed the story

The shift happened fast. At about 12:15 pm, the issue was around 23 times subscribed with QIBs at a fraction of their quota. By 3:23 pm, the overall figure had climbed to 103.31 times and the QIB book to 47.64 times. The last stretch before the 5 pm close nearly doubled the institutional number again.

Late institutional bidding is common in Indian IPOs. Mutual funds, insurers and foreign portfolio investors often wait until the final day, and sometimes the final hours, to see how demand is building before placing orders. Even so, going from almost nothing to more than 90 times in a single afternoon is a sharp swing. It suggests the concerns that had seemed to keep institutions away, including SRIT's heavy dependence on government contracts and its large receivables, were outweighed in the end by the company's order book and the momentum in the rest of the book.

It also changes the likely allotment picture. With every category heavily oversubscribed, the chances of receiving shares are slim for most applicants, particularly in the retail and small-HNI categories, where allotment is typically done by lottery once demand exceeds supply several times over.

What comes next

The basis of allotment is expected to be finalised on Thursday, October 1. Refunds and credit of shares to demat accounts are scheduled for October 5, with the stock due to list on the NSE and BSE on October 6.

Grey-market trackers had been indicating a premium of roughly 25 to 28 per cent over the upper price band during the day. Those quotes are unofficial and can move sharply once subscription data is final, and a strong book does not guarantee a strong debut, especially with broader markets under pressure after a weak September quarter.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.