Lohia Corp IPO: Price Band, GMP and the Dates That Matter

Lohia Corp is open for bidding until 27 July 2026, a Rs 1,101 crore mainboard issue carrying a grey market premium of about Rs 36 - roughly 8 percent over its upper band.

That is a measured premium, not a headline one, and measured is often the more useful signal. Here is what the numbers say.

The issue at a glance

At Rs 1,101 crore this is a solidly sized mainboard issue - large enough that its pricing rests on the book as a whole, not on a burst of retail demand.

What you can apply for

Category limits are set by SEBI, and crossing a threshold moves you into a different bucket with its own allotment mechanics.

One lot at cut-off is Rs 14,875. Thirteen lots comes to Rs 1,93,375, just under the retail ceiling.

If the issue is oversubscribed, retail allotment is a lottery on applications, not on the rupees in them. Thirteen lots in one application does not raise your odds of getting something over one lot in that same application - in a heavily oversubscribed mainboard issue, one lot per application is often the most anyone receives. Applying at cut-off with the minimum, across separate demat accounts held by different people, is the arrangement most retail investors actually use.

Reading an 8 percent premium

A premium in this range calls for the same caution as a large one, with less of the excitement:

• It is unofficial. No exchange, no regulator, no settlement record - just private dealers quoting a thin market.
• It is current, not predictive. It reflects appetite today. Premiums routinely compress in the days before listing, and the gap between the last quoted GMP and the actual open has been wide in both directions.
• It is a sentiment reading, not a margin of safety. Eight percent says the grey market is mildly positive right now. It says nothing about the business.

If a premium is the main reason to apply, that is worth sitting with before committing money. The prospectus, the financials and the valuation against listed peers are what should carry the decision.

The dates that actually decide things

Bidding closes on 27 July. For mainboard issues the UPI mandate cut-off is 17:00 IST on the closing day, and a lapsed or unapproved mandate is one of the most common reasons an application silently fails - approve it when you apply, not on the last afternoon.

Basis of allotment is 28 July, with MUFG Intime as registrar. Registrars often publish late in the evening or in the small hours of the next morning, so nothing showing by dinner time on the 28th is normal rather than a problem.

Listing is 30 July on both NSE and BSE.

The honest summary

Lohia Corp is a well-sized mainboard issue with a modest, steady grey market premium. The premium is not the story here, and it should not be the reason to apply.

What should carry the decision is the prospectus - what the company does, what it earns, and how the valuation sits next to listed peers. An 8 percent grey market quote in the middle of the bidding window tells you what a small group of dealers think this week. It is a starting point for a question, not the answer to one.

Nothing here is investment advice. Grey market premium is an unofficial indicator and we are not SEBI-registered analysts. Figures are as published at the time of writing and can change - check the red herring prospectus for the terms that apply to this issue.