Swiggy successfully crossed the IPO hurdle, now comes the hard part

On November 13, as Swiggy braced to go public on the Indian bourses, it’s safe to say there was more than a hint of nervousness on the company’s part. While the offering was subscribed 3.6X at the end of the third and final day of the bidding process, the previous two days had seen tepid interest in the offering, especially among retail and non-institutional investors.

Indeed, it was strong support from institutional investors that eventually saw Swiggy sail through the subscription process, oversubscribing by more than 6X, even as the allocation for retail investors stood at just 1.14X and subscriptions for the non-institutional investors’ portion stood at just 41%. 

The day before the listing, the grey market premium for the stock on the unlisted market stood at just Rs 1—down from Rs 4-5 prior to the start of the bidding process.

As it turns out, Swiggy needn’t have worried. By the end of listing day, the stock was trading at a premium of ~17% above its issue price. Impressively, Swiggy managed this despite a wider market downturn, with the benchmark Nifty and Sensex indices slipping 1%.