The plain answer
You apply for an IPO through your broker app with a UPI ID and your demat account. The application money is blocked in your bank account under ASBA rules, not paid out. If shares are allotted, the money is debited and the shares appear in your demat account on the second working day after the issue closes, with trading from the third. If not, the block lifts and the money never left your account.
Applying costs ₹0 in commission at the brokers compared on this site, and the whole application takes about two minutes once your UPI app has the mandate. The waiting is the long part, and the timeline below tells you when each step happens under the SEBI reduced schedule.
The two numbers that decide your application are the lot size and the price band. Your block equals the lot size multiplied by the top of the price band, and your application is valid only if the bank account behind your UPI holds that amount when the mandate is created.
Behind the two-minute screen flow sits a chain of institutions: the broker carries the bid to the exchange bidding platform, the bank holds the block, and the registrar to the issue, usually Link Intime or KFintech, validates every application and runs the allotment. Your only interfaces are the broker app and the UPI app; everything else works behind them, which is why the whole application feels like one step.
ASBA and the UPI mandate
ASBA stands for Application Supported by Blocked Amount, and it has been mandatory for all IPOs since January 2016. The bank blocks the application amount instead of transferring it, so your money stays in your account and keeps earning interest while the issue runs. The only change you see is a lien line in the bank statement.
The mechanism is the reason IPO applications need no cheques or RTGS transfers. The mandate authorises the bank to hold the amount, and the debit happens only when allotment succeeds. Nothing about ASBA guarantees allotment; it guarantees that money only moves on a result.
The block is also the reason a failed mandate is fatal. If you do not approve the UPI request before the issue closes, the bank never blocks anything, and the application was never completed, whatever the broker app shows. The approval step, not the application step, is the one that counts.
The January 2016 mandate ended the cheque era, when application money left the account on day one and returned by refund cheque weeks later. The block design transfers the wait from your money to the bank lien: interest keeps accruing to you through the issue window, and no one sits on your float. The structural question ASBA answered was who bears the waiting, and the answer is no one, which is why every market participant now uses the same plumbing.
The mandate, exactly
- Apply in the broker app with your UPI ID
- Approve the UPI mandate; the bank blocks the amount
- The issue closes on T day
- T+1: the registrar finalises the basis of allotment
- T+2: allotted shares credit to the demat; unblock instructions go out
- T+3: trading begins on the exchange
The retail application runs through UPI: after you apply in the broker app, your UPI app receives a mandate request for the block amount. You approve the mandate, the block appears in your bank account, and the application is complete. The mandate must be approved before the issue closes, and some banks add a second confirmation step inside the UPI app.
After the issue closes, the mandate does one of two things. On allotment it converts into the debit for the final issue price, and the difference against the cap price releases. On no allotment it lapses and the block releases, usually by the second working day after close. The UPI app shows the mandate status at every stage, and the registrar website confirms the application fate with your PAN or application number.
Mandate housekeeping has three rules. A mandate not approved by the close is dead: the remedy is a fresh application before the window shuts, not a late approval. A mandate can sit in your UPI app for hours after you applied, so checking the pending requests inside the app is the habit that catches silent failures. And once the issue closes, the mandate converts or lapses on the schedule above; nothing about it ever requires a follow-up payment from you.
The timeline, day by day
- T day, the issue close. Applications, bid modifications and UPI mandate reconciliation close. You can apply any time the window is open, and the app shows the price band, lot size and live subscription numbers throughout.
- T+1, allotment. The registrar finalises the basis of allotment and the exchange approves it before 6 pm. In an oversubscribed retail category, shares distribute by lottery among valid applications, so a larger application does not improve your per-lot odds.
- T+2, credit and release. Allotted shares credit to demat accounts, the listing application is filed, and unblock instructions go out for unsuccessful applications.
- T+3, listing day. Trading begins on the exchange. From that morning the shares are normal shares: you can sell them the way you sell anything else in your demat account.
This compressed schedule became mandatory for all public issues opening on or after 1 December 2023, under SEBI circular SEBI/HO/CFD/TPD1/CIR/P/2023/140 of 9 August 2023, which halved the earlier six-working-day timeline. The same circular makes delays in unblocking application money compensable to you, computed from T+3, which is the regulator putting a price on slow refunds.
Checking your status takes a PAN or application number on the registrar website, on the BSE or NSE issue pages, or inside the broker app. The three sources show the same result, and the registrar page is the primary one, because it also lists the rejection reason when one applies. The block movement in the bank account and the status page should agree, and a mismatch between the two is worth raising with the broker support.
Lot size and the block amount
| Item | Value | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Price band | ₹300 to ₹315 | The range the issuer sets before the issue |
| Lot size | 100 shares | Applications run in multiples of the lot |
| Block amount | ₹31,500 | Lot size × cap price: 100 × ₹315 |
| Debit on allotment | Up to ₹31,500 | Final issue price, at or below the cap |
Worked example: an issue priced in a ₹300 to ₹315 band with a 100-share lot blocks ₹31,500 per lot at the cap price. If the issue prices at ₹305 and you are allotted one lot, ₹30,500 is debited and the ₹1,000 difference releases. Two lots double every number: ₹63,000 block, ₹61,000 debit at the same issue price.
The category ceiling sits above this: the retail category covers applications up to ₹2,00,000, and larger applications move into the non-institutional category with different allocation rules. For a first-time applicant the retail category is where the application lands, and where the lottery logic applies when the issue is oversubscribed.
The block runs at the cap price because the final issue price is only fixed after the book closes, and the system needs a worst-case amount to hold. The cap price block is therefore a cash requirement, not a price prediction: your account must carry ₹31,500 in the example, and the pricing outcome only decides how much of it gets debited. The difference between block and debit releases with the unblock cycle, usually on T+2.
The allotment lottery, mechanically
When the retail book oversubscribes, the registrar runs a lottery among valid applications, and the algorithm aims to give as many applicants as possible one lot before any applicant receives a second. The consequence: in a heavily oversubscribed issue, most successful applicants get exactly one lot, and applying for ten lots mainly increases your quantity if you win, not your odds of winning.
The odds themselves are public arithmetic: retail shares on offer divided by valid retail applications. The subscription figure in the broker app is the live numerator of that fraction, which is why the app shows it through the window. There is no strategy layer beneath the lottery; there is only the number of valid applications and the size of the retail allocation.
The lottery describes the retail category, which is where the oversubscription arithmetic is most visible. The institutional categories run a different allocation basis under the same ASBA plumbing, and the employee and shareholder reservations where provided have their own pools. The subscription figure the app shows is category-specific, so the retail multiple is the number to read for a retail application.
What you need before applying
- A demat account. Shares are credited in demat form; a folio or mutual fund account cannot receive IPO allotments.
- A UPI ID. The mandate is how the block happens. Make sure the UPI app is logged in and the bank account behind it has the application amount.
- The lot size, multiplied. Applications are in lots. One lot of 100 shares at a ₹300 price band needs a ₹30,000 block. Two lots double it. Calculate before you tap apply.
- A matching PAN. The registrar verifies that the PAN in the application matches the PAN in the demat account and the PAN linked to your bank account. Any mismatch rejects the application at the T+1 check.
The checklist is stable across brokers: the demat account, the UPI ID, the lot arithmetic and the matching PAN. Nothing on the list costs money, and nothing on the list expires during the window, which is why a failed application almost always traces to the PAN or the mandate rather than to a document problem.
What an application costs
- Brokerage: ₹0. The brokers compared on this site publish a zero application fee for IPOs, and no commission layer sits between your bid and the exchange.
- The block: the only money involved is the blocked amount, which stays yours and keeps earning interest until allotment or release.
- Statutory charges: none at application. STT, the DP charge and GST arise only when you later sell the allotted shares on the exchange.
The point of the list: an IPO application has no fee layer on the apply side at all. Every charge in the system is a sell-side charge, which is why the phrase free IPO is accurate as a commission statement and silent about the market risk, which is the part no fee table covers.
The zero also extends to GST, because GST applies to brokerage and charges, and there are none at application. The first rupee of GST you pay on an IPO position appears on the contract note of your eventual sell, attached to the brokerage, DP and statutory layers of that trade.
Who can apply, and the one-PAN rule
- One application per PAN per category. The ASBA rules treat multiple applications by the same PAN in the same category as invalid, all of them. Duplicates do not raise odds; they cancel the application.
- Resident individuals with PAN. The application runs in the name of the PAN holder, and guardian applications for minors follow the structure of the demat account the minor holds.
- Category structure. Retail individual applications run up to ₹2,00,000, then non-institutional and qualified institutional categories, with employee and shareholder reservations where the issuer provides them.
The practical reading: if you apply once, with matching PAN details across the broker app, the demat account and the bank account, your application passes the verification layer. Most retail rejections come from a mismatch in exactly those three records, not from anything about the company.
Two category notes complete the map. Employee reservations, when the issuer provides them, run through a separate application window inside the same issue, with the same ASBA block. The non-institutional category above ₹2,00,000 has its own allocation arithmetic, and moving up to it changes the game from retail lottery to a different proportionate basis. The category you apply in is the category the rules treat you as, which is why the app asks before the mandate is raised.
One technical ceiling matters for larger bids: the UPI mandate route caps at ₹5 lakh per application, so bids above that run through the bank ASBA route with net banking instead. The retail category tops out at ₹2,00,000, so the UPI ceiling only binds when you apply in higher categories, where the bank ASBA form replaces the UPI mandate as the blocking mechanism.
After allotment
Allotted shares appear in the demat on T+2 and begin trading on T+3. From that morning they are ordinary shares: the same selling mechanics, the same T+1 settlement, and the same DP charge of ₹20 + GST per scrip per day on a sell at Upstox.
The tax clock starts on allotment, not on the day you sell. A sale within 12 months of allotment is a short-term capital gain at the listed-share rates, and the capital gains page works through the numbers. Nothing on this page tells you whether to sell or hold on listing day; the mechanics and the decision are separate things.
If you are not allotted, the block releases, usually by T+2. The money never moved, the interest it earned is yours, and nothing carries over to the next IPO. Each issue is a fresh application with a fresh mandate.
Listing day has one more mechanic worth knowing: the exchange runs an extended pre-open session for the new scrip, where orders gather before the first trade and the listing price is discovered against them. Your sell order can queue from the morning, and the first trade price it executes against is a market result, not the issue price carried forward. The same DP charge and settlement rules apply as on any other day.
What people usually get wrong
Applying for more lots improves your chances
In an oversubscribed retail category, allotment runs as a lottery on lots. One lot in a heavily oversubscribed issue is what it is; five lots buy more shares only if allotted, not better per-lot odds.
The money leaves my account when I apply
Under ASBA the amount is blocked, not debited. Your bank statement shows a lien, and the debit happens only on allotment.
A block means my application is complete
The UPI mandate must be approved before the issue closes. Some banks also require a second confirmation step. An unapproved mandate is the most common silent failure.
The listing price equals the IPO price
The listing price is set by the first trades on listing day and can open above or below the issue price. The issue price is what you pay; the listing price is what the market pays.
Questions people ask
The application is never submitted. The mandate is the ASBA block, and the application completes only when you approve it in your UPI app before the issue closes. An unapproved mandate is the most common silent failure in IPO applications, because the broker app can still show the application as drafted.
The block is at the top of the price band: lot size multiplied by the cap price. If the final issue price is lower, you are debited the lower amount and the difference is unblocked. If you are not allotted, the entire block releases and the money never left your account.
No. Multiple applications in the retail category under the same PAN are treated as invalid, all of them. The rule is one application per PAN per category, and the registrar runs third-party verification that catches duplicates and PAN mismatches after the issue closes.
From the listing day, which is three working days after the issue closes under the SEBI reduced timeline. The shares are ordinary shares in your demat account from that morning, and a sale within 12 months of allotment is a short-term capital gain at the listed-share rates.
The common technical rejections are a PAN in the application that does not match the PAN linked to your bank account, a demat account that was frozen or not mapped, and a bid that broke the lot-size rule. The registrar rejects these after the issue closes, and the block then releases.
No. The brokers compared on this site charge ₹0 to apply for an IPO, and there is no STT at application. Statutory charges like STT arise only when you later sell the allotted shares on the exchange.
Sources
- SEBI. Circular SEBI/HO/CFD/TPD1/CIR/P/2023/140 dated 9 August 2023, reducing the listing timeline for public issues to T+3. Accessed 16 August 2026.
- CNBC TV18. “Sebi halves IPO listing time to T+3 days to benefit investors, issuers.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- Upstox. “Brokerage charges.” Accessed 16 August 2026.
- Groww Invest Tech Private Limited. “Pricing.” Accessed 16 August 2026.