Finance

When retail investors in unlisted stocks face harsh IPO reality

Parvathi Benu

July 22, 2025 | 9 Min Read

The frenzied pursuit of unlisted shares, driven by optimism and the fear of missing out, is ending in disappointment for many a retail investor, as listing-day prices often fall drastically short of expectations. Here’s a closer look at the fast-growing market for unlisted shares

Key Takeaways

Retail investors have been flocking the unlisted market to acquire shares well before the IPO
While some of them made money in this deal, lately, a lot of them have been disappointed
The discontentment was particular when HDB Financial Services got listed last month at a price lower than its trading value in the unlisted market
Now with NSE's and NSDL's listings approaching, investors are cautious

Two years ago, Manan Doshi sold unlisted shares of HDB Financial Services for Rs 500 apiece, at a time when only seasoned investors and high-net-worth individuals held its shares. Doshi, the cofounder of Unlisted Arena, a platform that sells pre-IPO, unlisted, delisted, and unquoted shares of companies, says, “I know a bunch of people who entered the stock at somewhere between Rs 500 and Rs 800 at that time.” Cut to a few months ago, and HBD started seeing a very different level of demand.

Hundreds flocked to platforms like Unlisted Arena to acquire shares of the company at whatever price was available. As demand rose, prices skyrocketed. According to data collated by The CapTable, at one point, investors bought unlisted shares of HDB at around Rs 1550.

And then, HBD got listed on June 27 this year at just Rs 740 per share, a massive drop from the peaks it had touched in its unlisted avatar.

HBD isn’t a unique case. Data reveals that the unlisted share prices of some of last year’s prominent listings, such as Swiggy and Hexaware, were significantly higher than their eventual listing prices.

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