The lot size is the smallest bundle of shares you can apply for in an IPO. The company does not sell you one share. It sells you a lot, and then more lots. SEBI’s general information document says the lot is set so the smallest application value falls between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000. Further applications are in multiples of that lot. Half a lot is not a bid.
The price band and the lot are advertised before a book-built issue opens. You read both, because the money blocked is lots times the price you are bidding. At cut-off, the bank blocks the top of the band. A lower discovered price releases the difference. The lot does not change when the price is discovered. Only the rupees per share change.
A retail individual investor can bid up to ₹2,00,000. That cap is a value, not a count of lots. In a cheap issue you can bid many lots and still be retail. In a dear issue, two lots can already cross the cap. Cross it, and the bid is non-institutional. A cut-off bid that crosses the cap can be rejected, because non-institutional investors cannot choose cut-off.
One lot in the draw
When retail demand is heavier than the quota, the draw is of applicants, not of lots. SEBI’s general information document divides the retail shares by the minimum lot. That number is the most people who can each receive one lot. If more valid applicants exist, a draw of lots picks the names. SEBI’s February 2025 investor note calls that step a lottery. Each successful name gets the minimum lot. Bidding for more lots does not put your name in the hat again.
The mild case is different, and people mix it up with the lottery. If valid applicants are fewer than the lots available, everyone gets one lot. Shares still left are then shared in proportion to the extra lots people asked for. A bigger bid can receive more only after every valid applicant already has one lot. In a heavily subscribed main-board issue, that second step usually never starts.
This illustration is not a live company. The sample retail pool is 1,00,000 shares. One lot is 100 shares, so the pool is 1,000 lots. 4,000 valid retail applicants cannot each have a lot. The draw picks 1,000 names. One name is picked for every 4 valid applicants. In the same sample, 20 lots at ₹100 a share reach the retail cap and block ₹2,00,000. That larger bid is still one name.
After you are allotted
The shares that land in the demat account are whole lots from that process. You can sell them once listing starts, on T+3 under the rule mandatory from 1 December 2023. Selling is a tax question, not an allotment question. The capital gains calculator uses your sale price and your cost. A monthly purchase instead of one IPO bid is a SIP. The allotment guide has the full draw. The application guide is where you choose the number of lots on the form.
Questions
Can I bid for half a lot?
No. Further bids are whole lots. The company sets the lot so the smallest application falls between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000. You cannot ask for a single share below that lot.
Does a bigger lot improve my chance in a crowded retail issue?
Not when there are not enough lots for every valid applicant. The draw gives one minimum lot to each name it picks. A bid for one lot and a bid at the retail cap are one name each. Extra lots matter only after everyone already has one lot.
Is the lot the same as the retail cap?
No. The lot is the bundle. The retail cap is ₹2,00,000 of bid value. You may bid several lots, as long as the amount at the top of the band stays within that cap.
Sources
Figures checked 31 Oct 2026.