RBI’s New IPO Rule To Hit HNIs, Grey Market Hard

Currently, IPO subscription in India is skewed to favour the leveraged HNI and subject to a very high degree of money power. Come April 1, 2022, this is set to undergo a major change with the RBI directing that no individual can be lent more than Rs 1 crore to apply for shares in an IPO. The immediate ramifications will be huge. Firstly, the number of times the HNI portion is subscribed will fall sharply from the present 100-800 times to maybe 5-10 times. The present grey market premiums which decide the subscription level will no longer exist at these levels as the subscription will not match. The reverse math will not allow such premiums to remain. The pricing of issues will go through a downward pressure as merchant bankers, promoters and PE Investors will no longer have the luxury to depend on leveraged HNI to back them. The standard practice of every issue opening at a premium of 20-30% of the issue price will simply stop.  What would the new scenario look like? Probably more subdued and balanced. IPO price band would be realistic and listing gains of 10% would be a great number. HNI subscription being in single digit would be the new norm as SEBI would also have notified the new norms of splitting the HNI bucket into two. For retail investors it is a welcome move.