Indian fintech firm Paytm’s initial public offering of up to ₹183 billion crawled towards a full subscription in the final hours of its issue period on Wednesday, signalling tepid demand for the country’s largest stock market listing.
As of 0808 GMT, Paytm’s offer of 48.3 million shares had received 55.9 million bids, according to stock exchange data.
Institutional investors bid for 1.88 times the shares reserved for them, while retail investors subscribed for 1.5 times the shares on offer.
The lacklustre response stood in sharp contrast to the strong demand for other Indian start-ups like food delivery firm Zomato and e-commerce beauty platform FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), which investors snapped up during the issue period and saw strong market debuts.
Loss-making Zomato’s issue was oversubscribed over 38 times and profitable Nykaa’s issue was oversubscribed by almost 82 times.
Paytm, backed by China’s Ant Group and Japanese firm SoftBank’s Vision Fund, has priced its issue at ₹2,080 - ₹2,150 per share.
