The much-awaited TCS IPO opened on Thursday, to a lukewarm response. The offer has been subscribed 91.08 per cent on the first day, and most bids are at Rs 775. The QIB (Qualified Institutional Buyer) segment has been fully subscribed.
Though the bids came in at the lower end of the band, the actual pricing is expected to evolve in the following days. Analyst Mihir Kothari of Motilal Oswal told CNBC-TV18, "Today is the first day of the TCS IPO. Generally, the response on the first day of the IPO is very muted. Most of these bids that have come in, have come in from institutional participants, but the overall outlook for the stock both from the retail as well as from the institutional quarters is going to be fairly strong.
"As we go forward and as we get better numbers towards the last day of the issue in terms of the over-subscription and the price at which it has been bid, the expectation would be that the issue will finally close at a price higher than Rs 800. At Rs 800 it leaves something on the table for the investors to look for, in terms of capital appreciation on listing."
Earlier, brokers had told CNBC-TV18 that though most of the subscription has been from institutional buyers, retail investors and high networth individuals are expected to enter in the last few days.
Banks and lending institutions have not seen a great demand for loans to subscribe to the TCS IPO, but they say that the indicative demand is very high.
According to investment bankers, bidders are cautious and opting for the lower end of the price band because many had experienced losses in previous IPOs, when they bid towards the higher end. Most investors are expected to take a final call towards the last few days of the issue.
Analyst Prithvi Haldea, managing director of Prime Database, feels retail investors should go for the cut-off option rather than take a call through the price band.
"Retail should not use the price band at all. He has to go for the cut-off option. He has no means of discovering the price, and he would take a call on the second last or the last day. I expect there'll be a revision of pricing as the book builds up.
"There's no fund, or institution that will not want TCS in their portfolio, and then it will be a case of demand chasing limited supply. The price bids will then go up. For the retail investor, the outflow is Rs 50,000. He should look at the cut-off option, in case there is a lower price discovered by TCS, he gets a refund of the extra amount he has put in. But he should not try and take a call on price. He should not try to play the price," he said.
The price band for the TCS IPO has been fixed at Rs 775-900 per share. The book-built issue is on offer from July 29 to August 5. The net public offer is of 55,452,600 shares. The IPO carries a fresh equity of 22,775,000 shares of Re 1 each. There is a greenshoe option of 8,317,880 shares. FII holding in TCS cannot exceed 24 per cent, and 60 per cent of the offer has been reserved for qualified institutional investors.
Tata Sons will offload 3.17 per cent stake, and will buy TCS Division from Tata Sons for Rs 2300 crore (Rs 23 billion), post offer. The Jamsetji Trust will offload 2.09 per cent, Navajbhai Ratan Trust will offload 1.2 per cent, and Indian Hotels 0.04 per cent stake.
JM Morgan Stanley Private Limited, DSP Merrill Lynch Limited, and JP Morgan India Private Limited are the lead managers to the issue. Co-book running lead managers are Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Limited, CLSA India Limited, and SBI Capital Markets Limited.
© 2026