IPO gains fuel FOMO as grey market heats up
Benchmarks Nifty24,154.90-132.75FEATURED FUNDS★★★★★Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund Direct-Growth5Y Return23.3 % Invest NowEnter search text:HomeETPrimeMarketsMarket DataNewsIndustrySMEPoliticsWealthMFTechAICareersOpinionNRIPanacheThe Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now. Read Today's Paper Strong IPO gains stoke FOMO fears, set grey market abuzzSECTIONSStrong IPO gains stoke FOMO fears, set grey market abuzzBy Ravindra Sonavane, ET BureauLast Updated: Aug 19, 2026, 05:46:00 AM ISTFollow…
Strong IPO gains stoke FOMO fears, set grey market abuzz
The unofficial grey market shows increased activity with rising share prices. Recent strong IPO listings have boosted investor confidence and expectations for future gains. Several upcoming initial public offerings are experiencing significant grey market premiums. This heightened investor appetite is driven by recent successful stock market debuts. Companies are now pricing their offerings more conservatively to ensure strong subscriptions.
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Pre-listing premiums soar to 15–25% on average from an estimated rise of 5–6% for IPOs in January-July, in a signal of rising expectations of better listing gains
Higher grey market premiums-the additional price that investors are willing to pay over the IPO price in the grey market before a stock lists-signal rising expectations of better listing gains for mainboard initial public offerings (IPOs).
For instance, Behari Lal Engineering’s GMP is trading at nearly 44%, or ₹125 a share, above its issue price of ₹285, following 118 times subscription to its IPO. Shiprocket Ltd’s GMP is around 38%, or ₹39 a share, above its issue price of ₹97, after the IPO was subscribed around 99 times. Both stocks are scheduled to list on August 19. Investor appetite in the unregulated grey market has also extended to IPOs that are currently open or yet to be launched.
Lalithaa Jewellery Mart’s GMP is currently around 17% above its issue price of ₹201 a share. The IPO opened on August 17 and is scheduled to close on August 19, with the stock expected to list on August 24. The issue had received over 3x subscription by the end of its second day.
Sunshine Pictures’ GMP is around 21% above its issue price, while Skyways Air Services is commanding a 24%, or ₹33, premium over the upper end of its ₹138 price band. Tempsens Instruments India, whose IPO opens on August 20, has a GMP of around ₹168, or 56%, above its ₹300 issue price.
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Brokers and traders said grey market premiums have picked up to a range of 15-25% lately. Unofficial estimates indicated this was an average of 5-6% for the 39 IPOs that listed between January and July, as against 8-10% in 2025, when 103 IPOs were launched and listed.
“The momentum in the grey market is palpable thanks to the strong performance of recent listings, and sets the stage for a robust pipeline, anchored by highly anticipated mega-IPOs like Jio and NSE,” said Manan Doshi, co-founder of Unlisted Arena. August has seen strong listing-day gains so far. Technocraft Ventures and MV Electrosystems jumped 47% each on listing day, followed by Dhoot Transmission and Molbio Diagnostics, which gained 36% and 29%, respectively. Milky Mist Dairy Food rose around 30% on its listing day.
“The recent listings provided strong listing gains to investors and are driving fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) among retail and high-net-worth investors,” said Hitesh Dharawat, owner of Mumbai-based Dharawat Securities, which deals in pre-IPO and unlisted stocks. “This is driving high oversubscription in ongoing IPOs.” Around 12 IPOs listed in July delivered average listing gains of around 20%, according to ET calculations. For the 27 stock market debutants between January and June, the average listing-day gains were 9%. This compares with an average listing-day gain of 10% per issue in 2025.
The GMPs of some of the upcoming IPOs, Gaja Alternative Asset Management, Shankesh Jewellers and Horizon Industrial Parks are relatively muted.
