Applying for an IPO

How IPO Subscription Works (and How to Read the Numbers)

What subscription multiples like 3.2× or 150× mean, how they are calculated per category, how anchor investors fit in, and what the numbers do not tell you.

By Niva Market Watch Editorial · Published 30 Sep 2026

During an IPO, the exchanges publish how much demand the issue has received. These subscription figures — “subscribed 3.4 times”, “retail 12×” — are among the most-watched numbers in the Indian IPO market. This guide explains exactly what they measure, how to read them by category, and what they cannot tell you.

What “subscribed 5×” means

Subscription multiple = shares bid for ÷ shares offered.

1×: bids exactly equal the shares on offer.
Below 1×: undersubscribed — fewer shares were bid for than offered.
5×: bids for five times the shares available. In an oversubscribed category, not everyone who applies will receive shares.

The figures are calculated separately for each investor category, using the shares reserved for that category, and then combined into an overall number.

Reading the category breakdown

Category	Typical pattern	What it reflects
QIB	Often low on days 1–2, then jumps on the final day	Institutions typically bid on the last day after completing their own analysis
NII (sNII / bNII)	Can be very high in popular issues	Includes wealthy individuals and corporates, some of whom borrow to apply (“IPO financing”), which can inflate the figure
Retail	Builds through the period	Individual demand up to ₹2 lakh per application
Employee / shareholder	Varies	Only relevant to eligible applicants

The overall multiple is a weighted combination, so it always sits between the lowest and highest category figures. If a source shows an overall figure outside that range, the numbers do not reconcile — on our pages we then show only the overall figure.

Anchor investors and the QIB number

Anchor investors are allotted shares the day before the issue opens. Reported QIB subscription during the public bidding period usually refers to the QIB portion excluding anchors. A strong anchor book is disclosed separately and is not part of the multiple.

How often figures update

Exchanges update bid data through each bidding day, and the final figures come out after the issue closes. Niva Market Watch collects subscription figures from a third-party report (InvestorGain) on a schedule, not in real time; each figure is shown with the date it was recorded. Our subscription page lists current and recent issues.

Multiples and money are different things

A 200× subscription in a ₹20 crore SME issue is about ₹4,000 crore of bids; a 20× subscription in a ₹2,000 crore mainboard issue is about ₹40,000 crore. Multiples compare demand with supply for that issue; they are not comparable across issues of very different size. See Mainboard vs SME.

What subscription does not tell you

Whether the business is sound or the price fair. Demand can be driven by sentiment, momentum or short-term trading.
The listing price. Heavily subscribed issues have listed below their issue price, and lightly subscribed ones above it. See how the listing price is determined.
Your chance of allotment, directly. That depends on the number of applications in your category, not only the multiple. A retail multiple of 10× could mean far more than 10 applicants per lot if most applicants apply for one lot.

Undersubscription

If an issue does not receive enough valid bids — SEBI requires a minimum subscription, generally 90% of the fresh issue — it fails and all blocked money is released. Unsubscribed portions of one category can, in some cases, be allotted to others as set out in the RHP.

Next: How IPO allotment works

Related guides

IPO basics