Opening day blues for Paytm's mega IPO, subscribed just 18%

Paytm's Rs 18,300-crore IPO -- India's largest public issue to date -- was subscribed only 18 per cent on the first day of bidding on Monday.

The initial public offering of Paytm's parent company, One97 Communications Ltd received bids for 88.23 lakh equity shares against the offer size of 4.83 crore shares, according to information available from stock exchanges.

The portion set aside for retail investors has been subscribed 78 per cent, while the reserved portion of non-institutional investors was subscribed 2 per cent, and qualified institutional buyers have put in bids for 16.78 lakh shares against 2.63 crore shares set aside for them.

Other tech IPOs such as those of Nykaa and Zomato Ltd had received stronger investor demand on their opening days but they were much smaller compared to Paytm's share sales.

Paytm has priced its shares in a price band of Rs 2,080-2,150 per share, valuing the company at Rs 1.39 lakh crore at the upper end of the price band. The share sale closes on November 10.

Share allotment is likely to take place on November 15, and the shares are expected to be listed on November 18.

The offer comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 8,300 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of shares worth up to Rs 10,000 crore.

The OFS, or secondary share sale, consists of the sale of shares worth up to Rs 402.65 crore by founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

The company has set aside 75 per cent of the offer for qualified institutional buyers, 15 per cent for non-institutional investors, and the remaining 10 per cent for retail investors.

The record-setting IPO has received a mixed response from analysts, with some calling it a good bet to ride India's fintech wave and others pointing at expensive pricing.

At the upper end of the price band, Paytm is valued at 49.7 times FY21 revenues.

Also, it had negative cash flows for the last three fiscals. It posted a loss of Rs 1,701 crore on a revenue of Rs 2,802 crore in FY21.

Incorporated in 2000, One97 Communications is India's leading digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants. It offers a range of services to the users -- payment services and financial services.

The OFS also includes up to Rs 4,704.43 crore worth of shares offered by Antfin (Netherlands) Holdings, up to Rs 784.82 crore by Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce, up to Rs 75.02 crore by Elevation CapitalV FII Holdings, up to Rs 64.01 crore by Elevation Capital V Ltd, Rs 1,327.65 crore by Saif III Mauritius, Rs 563.63 crore by Saif Partners, Rs 1,689.03 crore by SVF Partners and Rs 301.77 crore by International Holdings.