A retail individual investor is a person whose IPO application is not more than ₹2,00,000. SEBI’s primary-market FAQ uses the bid, not your salary and not your net worth. Bid ₹2,00,000 or less and you are retail. Bid more and you are a non-institutional investor, unless you are a qualified institutional buyer. The same person can be retail in a small issue and non-institutional in a large one. The form decides it.
The category decides the quota. On the profitability route, regulation 6(1), at least 35% of the net public offer is for retail. At least 15% is for non-institutional investors. Not more than 50% is for institutions. On the compulsory book-built route, regulation 6(2), institutions need at least 75% or the company refunds the subscription money, and retail is not more than 10%. A fixed-price issue reserves at least 50% for retail at the start. There is no discretion inside a category.
Retail can bid at the cut-off price. Institutions and non-institutional investors cannot. Retail can withdraw until the issue closes. Those two categories cannot withdraw, and they cannot lower a bid once it is in. The retail close on the current timetable is 5 pm on T. Institutions and non-institutional bidders close at 4 pm on T.
One application, one person
One retail investor sends one form. Up to 3 prices on that form are still one bid. A second form with the same PAN can be treated as a multiple bid, and both can be rejected. Only one application is allowed from one bank account in a public issue. A parent and an adult child who each have a PAN, a demat account and a bank account are two applicants. That is allowed. Using a relative’s UPI ID is not.
An employee reservation is a different bucket. The bid there cannot exceed ₹5,00,000, and the first allotment in that reservation is capped at ₹2,00,000. An employee may also bid in the net public offer. That pair is not a forbidden second application. A listed company can reserve shares for its retail individual shareholders as well. The offer document states the size. This page does not invent a percentage for either reservation.
Above ₹2,00,000, the non-institutional quota on a main-board book-built issue is itself split. Regulation 32(3A), as SEBI’s October 2026 consultation describes the main-board rule, keeps 1/3 for applications above ₹2,00,000 and up to ₹10,00,000, and 2/3 for applications above ₹10,00,000. Each of those investors is still due at least the minimum lot, subject to shares being available. The draw is not reserved for retail alone.
After allotment
Retail allotment is not a tax event. A sale on listing day is short-term, because the shares have been held for not more than 12 months. Section 196 (this was Section 111A) taxes that listed-equity gain at 20%. Past 12 months, Section 198 (this was Section 112A) taxes the gain above ₹1,25,000 in the year at 12.5%. The capital gains guide has the rest. The allotment guide is the quota and the lottery. The application guide is the form.
Questions
Is the ₹2 lakh line based on my income?
No. It is the value of the bid. A retail individual investor applies or bids for shares worth not more than ₹2,00,000. A person with a high salary can still be retail if the bid stays inside that line.
What quota does retail get?
On the profitability route, at least 35% of the net public offer. On a compulsory book-built issue, not more than 10%. A fixed-price issue starts with at least 50% for retail. The offer document prints the split.
Can two family members both apply as retail?
Yes, if each person uses their own PAN, their own demat account and their own bank account. That is two applicants. One UPI ID shared across two forms is a third-party application, and it is not valid for allotment.
Sources
Figures checked 31 Oct 2026.