An RHP is a red herring prospectus. It is the offer document for a book-built public issue. The company files it with the Registrar of Companies before the issue opens. SEBI’s primary-market FAQ of May 2025 describes it as the document that has the relevant details except the price or the number of shares.
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Open calculatorThe regulations are a little more precise than that one sentence, and both belong in the same reading. Regulation 29 allows the red herring prospectus to mention a floor price or a price band. Schedule XIII says the same. The prospectus, filed later with the Registrar of Companies, contains only one price. The cap of the band cannot be more than 120% of the floor, and it cannot be less than 105% of the floor.
In a fixed-price issue the company can state a price or a price band in the offer document and registers the prospectus before the issue opens. In a book-built issue the discovered price goes into the prospectus after the book closes. Do not wait for that final prospectus if you want to decide whether to bid. By then the issue is over. The red herring prospectus is the file to read while the book is open.
After the red herring prospectus is filed with the Registrar of Companies, the lead managers file copies with SEBI and the exchanges. You will see it on SEBI’s filings page, on BSE, on NSE, and on the company’s website. The registrar to the issue is named in it. That is the firm you use later to check whether your application was allotted.
What changes from the draft
The draft was the comment copy. The red herring prospectus is the bid copy. Risk factors may have been rewritten after SEBI’s observations and after the public comments. Objects, the fresh-issue and offer-for-sale split, and the capital structure can move too. Read the red herring prospectus even if you already read the draft. A line that was “proposed” in the draft may be a number in the red herring prospectus.
The pre-issue advertisement goes out after this filing. It is a summary, not a replacement. The offer-document guide is the section-by-section reading. The application guide is how the bid is blocked. Nothing on this page is a grey market premium.
Mistakes
- Bidding from a news summary and never opening the red herring prospectus.
- Treating the floor as the price you will pay. You may pay the cap. The bank blocks the cap.
- Looking for the registrar only after allotment day. The name is already in the document.
Checked on 2 November 2026 against the ICDR Regulations as amended up to 21 March 2026.
Questions
Does the RHP have the final IPO price?
SEBI’s FAQ says the red herring prospectus leaves out the price and the number of shares. The regulations also allow a floor price or a price band in that document. The prospectus filed with the Registrar of Companies is the one that contains a single price. The cap of the band cannot exceed 120% of the floor.
When is the RHP filed?
For a book-built issue it is filed with the Registrar of Companies before the issue opens. A fixed-price issue registers the prospectus before opening. A book-built issue registers the prospectus, with one price, after the issue closes. The floor or the band is announced at least two working days before opening.
Where is the registrar named?
In the red herring prospectus, and again on the exchange’s page for that issue. You need that name to check allotment. The status guide shows how to look up one application once the basis is approved.
Sources
Figures checked 2 Nov 2026.