Here, T stands for the issue closing date, and every day after it is counted from that point.
While the window remains open, investors put in their bids via their brokers, and most retail bids are backed by a UPI mandate. The bid amount gets only blocked in the investor's bank account, not debited at this stage. The money remains with the investor till the allotment is decided.
The bids are received in three investor categories, An individual who applies for shares in an Indian IPO with a total bid value within the retail limit, counted together across all bids under one PAN. Read the full meaning of Retail Individual Investor (RII), non‐institutional investors, and qualified institutional buyers. Each category gets its own share of the issue, and the demand in each portion is summed up once the bidding window closes.
What happens between closing and listing
The demand in each category is checked and the basis of allotment is fixed after that. This document decides how many shares each applicant will get.
On T+2, the banks act on the allotment. For the investors who have been allotted shares, the amount for those shares is debited from the blocked funds. For the investors who have not been allotted shares, or have received fewer shares, the remaining amount is unblocked and becomes available again.
Many investors blame the exchange when the shares are not visible in their A demat account is an electronic account that holds an investor's shares, bonds, ETFs and mutual fund units in digital form instead of paper certificates. Read the full meaning of Demat Account, but these steps are completed by the registrar and the banks before the exchange opens trading.
Why the listing date can shift
The T+3 count includes only working days, so a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday declared by the exchanges is not counted. When an issue closes on a Thursday or a Friday, the listing will therefore fall in the following week, and investors which expected a quicker listing are often surprised by this.
The date mentioned in the prospectus is indicative, as it is prepared before the issue opens. The final date is announced by the exchange through its circular after the basis of allotment is completed.
Listing day also does not guarantee a gain. Shares may open and trade below the issue price and the investors who were allotted shares will see the market price on that day.
A market holiday falling between T and the listing day will move the date forward, and the date notified by the exchange is the one that applies.
