Meesho IPO fully subscribed on day 1 as retail demand surges

No-commission ecommerce platform Meesho saw its IPO fully subscribed by afternoon on day 1 of opening, as heavy demand from retail investors drove up bids, according to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

On Wednesday, the 277.9 million share offering attracted bids for 322.2 million shares, achieving a subscription ratio of 1.16 times. The IPO saw portion allocated to retail individual investors subscribed 3.24 times as of 3 PM.

On their heels, non-institutional investors (NIIs) saw their total portion subscribed 1.17 times. Within this, investors bidding over Rs 10 lakh subscribed 1.07 times, while NIIs bidding between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh saw their portion subscribed 1.78 times.

Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs), who are generally more active on the last day, saw only 39% bids against the portion allocated. The segment attracted bids for only 57.6 million shares against an offer of 150.3 million shares.

Lenskart's IPO was fully subscribed by the end of day 1, Groww's IPO was fully subscribed by the middle of day, while Pine Labs saw its IPO fully subscribed only by the last bidding day.

The anchor round—typically a quiet prelude to Indian IPOs—stirred discontent among a group of Meesho's institutional investors. According to reports by Bloomberg and The Economic Times, a group of institutional investors had protested the sizeable allotment given to SBI Mutual Fund–managed schemes, questioning whether the state-owned fund house received preferential treatment and raised concerns about transparency in the allocation process. Meesho and its bankers have not publicly responded.

Based on the anchor allocation document, SBI Mutual Funds dominated the anchor book with SBI Balanced Advantage Fund receiving the largest single allocation at 8.40%. Combined with smaller allocations to other SBI schemes, the fund house's total allocation appears to have exceeded 20% of the anchor portion, which sparked the controversy over potential preferential treatment.

Notably, Tiger Global has taken 1.9% of the anchor allotment in Meesho’s IPO, reaffirming support for one of its earliest India bets. The New York–based investor first backed the company in 2019, participating in its Series D funding round.

Meesho's IPO is expected to close on December 5, Friday, with shares likely to be listed next week.