How to improve your chances of an IPO allotment

No trick guarantees an allotment in a popular IPO: oversubscribed retail portions are decided by a computerised draw. But some mistakes cost people their chance, and a few choices do improve it.

What helps

Apply at the cut-off price. A retail bid below the final price is left out of the draw; ticking cut-off means you accept whatever price is set.

Each eligible adult in the family can apply with their own PAN, demat account and bank account. Each application is a separate entry in the draw. Applications must be made with each person's knowledge and money in their name.

If you hold shares of a listed parent company on the cut-off date in the offer document, you may be eligible for the shareholder quota, which is a separate application with its own, often better, odds.

What does not help

Applying for more lots in the retail category does not improve your odds when it is oversubscribed: winners get one lot each, chosen by draw.

Applying twice with the same PAN, or in both Retail and HNI, gets every application from that PAN rejected.

Avoid losing your chance

Accept the UPI mandate as soon as it arrives, and well before 5 PM on the closing day. Keep enough money in the account for the block. Make sure the name and PAN on the demat account and bank account match.

Applying a day before the close leaves time to fix a failed mandate or a typo.

Know your odds

If the retail portion is subscribed X times, roughly 1 in X retail applications gets a lot. IPO Khata shows this estimate on every IPO page from the live subscription.

Related guides

• How IPO allotment works
• What the cut-off price means in an IPO
• The shareholder quota in an IPO
• Who can apply for an IPO: spouse, parents, minor, HUF
• How many lots should you apply for in an IPO?

More on subscription, allotment and refunds

• How to check IPO allotment status
• What is IPO subscription (times subscribed)?
• IPO money still blocked? What to do
• Why IPO applications get rejected
• What happens when an IPO is undersubscribed
• IPO shares not showing in your demat account

See today’s IPOs with live GMP and subscription

Information, not investment advice. GMP is an unofficial grey-market indicator; figures come from public sources (InvestorGain) and may be late or wrong. Not registered with or affiliated to SEBI, the exchanges, the registrars or InvestorGain.