Karamtara Wins the QIB Vote as Six IPOs Open

Six mainboard IPOs opened on September 9, seeking Rs 4,509.71 crore (~$478 million) through September 11. By 4:54 p.m., Karamtara Engineering, Rentomojo and LCC Projects were through 1 times, while Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions still had almost no residual QIB bids.

Of that window, Rs 2,753.71 crore, or 61%, is an offer for sale. The companies keep Rs 1,756 crore of fresh capital. Grey-market trackers still priced Rentomojo as the listing-pop favourite. The live institutional book did not.

Six Mainboard IPOs Open on the Same Three Days

The slate runs from a furniture-rental platform to a card printer, a power-equipment maker, an irrigation contractor, India’s first asset reconstruction company and a Gujarat steam-and-nitrogen supplier. All six are due to list on September 17, with allotment slated for September 15.

Each retail lot sits near Rs 15,000 at the cap price, a function of how exchanges now size lots. That does not make the six books alike. Rentomojo is 88% secondary. Asset Reconstruction Company (India), or ARCIL, is 100% secondary. Karamtara is putting 77% of its issue in as new equity. Steamhouse India is 85% fresh.

THE SIX ISSUES BY FRESH CAPITAL

Grant Thornton Bharat’s IPOs in India FY26 report put offer-for-sale proceeds at 61% of mainboard money last fiscal year, the same share this three-day window is asking the public to fund. Average listing gains in that study were 7%, down from 29% in FY25, and average oversubscription fell to 39 times from 71 times.

Karamtara Is the Book Institutions Filled

Karamtara Engineering, which makes products for renewable energy and transmission lines, is the Rs 875 crore issue with Rs 675 crore of fresh capital. JM Financial is the book-running lead manager. The cap price of Rs 254 implies a post-issue market value of Rs 8,174.30 crore, or 35.7 times FY26 earnings.

Anchors took Rs 262.50 crore on September 8. By 4:54 p.m. on September 9 the residual QIB portion was 1.26 times subscribed, the NII book 1.89 times and retail 1.12 times, for 1.33 times overall on about 209,488 applications. No other name in the six had a leftover QIB book through 1 times that early.

LCC Projects, an irrigation and water-supply EPC firm raising Rs 427.14 crore, was the closest institutional cousin. Its residual QIB book reached 1.13 times by the same 4:54 p.m. print, with the whole issue at 1.34 times on about 118,445 applications. Both books are still open through September 11, and last-day QIB bids can rewrite a first-day ranking. The first-day ranking is still the one institutions actually filled.

Rentomojo’s Grey-Market Lead Is a Retail Trade

Rentomojo is the largest cheque, Rs 1,255.57 crore, and the one grey-market trackers on September 9 quoted at Rs 130, or 32.18% above the Rs 404 cap. That print implies a listing near Rs 534 if the unofficial premium holds, which it often does not. The public issue still cleared 1.36 times by 4:54 p.m., on about 403,409 applications, because NIIs were 2.3 times and retail 1.49 times. Residual QIBs were 0.41 times.

Anchors had already taken Rs 376 crore on September 8, 93.08 lakh shares at Rs 404, with 60.41 lakh of those shares going to 30 schemes of 16 mutual funds, plus Goldman Sachs Funds and BlackRock Global Funds. The leftover QIB book is the part that was still light. The grey market is scoring the stock on allotment odds and a 32% premium. That ranking is not the same thing as residual institutional demand.

The company is a Bengaluru rental and subscription platform for furniture and appliances. As of March 31, 2026 it had 253,825 live subscribers across 29 cities, 82 experience stores, 20 warehouses, 851,184 live items and an occupancy rate of 83.34%. Restated total income was Rs 394.09 crore and profit Rs 104.30 crore, up 45% and 142% from FY25. The post-issue book value multiple at the cap is 40.73 times FY26 earnings on a market value of Rs 4,246.30 crore, about five times a 2024 private valuation of Rs 850-900 crore.

Only Rs 150 crore is new money, earmarked for Rs 70 crore of debt repayment, Rs 42.50 crore of warehouse and store leases, and general purposes. Founder Geetansh Bamania has been explicit about why the primary cheque is small.

The business is now in its fourth year of profitability, we don’t need to raise large amounts of primary capital

Geetansh Bamania, founder and promoter, Rentomojo

The asset base of Rs 641.12 crore against income of Rs 394.09 crore is the other side of that quote. Revenue scales with furniture and appliances on the ground. Existing holders are using the listing to sell Rs 1,105.57 crore of that asset pool to the public.

Manipal Reserved Most of the Book for QIBs

Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions is the second-largest issue at Rs 805 crore and the one built for institutions. The company left 75 percent of the issue reserved for QIBs, including a Rs 362.25 crore anchor book, and only 10% for retail. Typical mainboard books in this window reserve 35% for retail.

By 4:18 p.m. on September 9 the residual QIB portion showed 616 shares bid against 71,23,894 on offer, or 0.00 times. NIIs were 0.10 times and retail 0.64 times. The whole book sat at 0.14 times on 28,407 applications, about 7% of Rentomojo’s application count at the later print.

The business is a Manipal Group card and identity printer: payment cards, driving licences, secure printing, smart tagging and IoT. It has said it holds about 36.4% of India’s credit-card issuance market and 30.9% of debit cards, with more than 300 customers and 10 facilities. FY26 revenue from operations was Rs 1,326.75 crore, up about 6%, while profit fell 10% to Rs 253.46 crore after a high base that included exceptional gains. Borrowings were Rs 0.42 crore. Fresh proceeds are meant for Rs 238.43 crore of equipment and general purposes. Promoter Manipal Technologies is selling Rs 485 crore of stock at a weighted average cost of Rs 2.18 a share against a Rs 339 cap.

A zero-debt printer with 33.60% EBITDA margins and a 31.02 times post-issue earnings multiple is not an obvious skip on paper. The residual QIB print on September 9 treated it as one.

Accel, SBI and GIC Are Already Selling

If these issues list, most of the money never reaches the companies. Accel India is the largest Rentomojo seller after Bamania, looking at up to Rs 317 crore and about 8.6 times its cost. Chiratae Ventures could take up to Rs 197 crore. Madison India is in for about 7.2 times, or Rs 97 crore. Bamania is selling 849,175 shares, about Rs 34 crore, after cutting an earlier plan to sell nearly 20 lakh shares. Edelweiss, IDG Ventures, ValueQuest, GMO and Renaud Laplanche are also on the OFS list.

ARCIL’s entire Rs 733 crore book is secondary. The abridged prospectus names Avenue, SBI, Lathe and Federal Bank as the selling shareholders. Avenue India Resurgence, owned by Avenue Capital, is offering up to 2,48,23,910 shares at a weighted average cost of Rs 55.62. State Bank of India is offering up to 1,09,63,062 shares at Rs 36.76. Lathe Investment, the GIC vehicle, is offering up to 1,62,44,858 shares at Rs 84 and is exiting. Federal Bank is selling 7,00,116 shares bought at Rs 35.43, a 292% gain at the Rs 139 cap.

WHERE THE SECONDARY CHEQUE GOES

• Rentomojo VCs: Accel, Chiratae, Edelweiss, ValueQuest and others are selling Rs 1,105.57 crore, and the company keeps Rs 150 crore.
• Manipal Technologies: The promoter is the sole OFS seller for Rs 485 crore, leaving a 53.02% post-issue stake in some issue materials and 53.92% on the tracker page.
• ARCIL owners: Avenue, SBI, GIC’s Lathe and Federal Bank take the full Rs 733 crore; the company gets none.
• Karamtara promoters: Rs 200 crore of OFS sits beside Rs 675 crore of new equity, the cleanest growth-capital mix in the large names.
• LCC and Steamhouse: LCC’s OFS is Rs 169.14 crore against Rs 258 crore fresh. Steamhouse promoter Vishal Budhia is selling Rs 61 crore against Rs 353 crore fresh.

ARCIL CEO and MD Phanindranath Kakarla has said the firm’s capital adequacy is close to 65% against the RBI’s 15% minimum, with a debt-equity ratio of 0.4, so it does not need IPO cash. “Our capital adequacy ratio is close to 65% and our internal accruals will sufficiently fund us in the short term,” he said. “It is important that the first ARC listing comes from a position of strength.” Avenue and SBI still hold nearly 90% before the offer and about 78% after it. FY26 revenue was Rs 753 crore and profit Rs 407.8 crore. Anchors, including Goldman Sachs India AMC and Bank of America Securities Europe, took Rs 220 crore on September 8. Residual QIBs were 0.09 times in the morning print.

Steamhouse and ARCIL Lag After the First Session

Steamhouse India is the smallest cheque, Rs 414 crore, and the most primary after Karamtara. It sells steam and nitrogen through more than 45 km of pipes in Sachin, Vapi, Ankleshwar, Sarigram, Panoli and Nadesari. FY26 total income was Rs 494.97 crore and profit Rs 38.64 crore, with borrowings of Rs 281.62 crore. The post-issue earnings multiple at the Rs 81 cap is 57.86 times on a market value of Rs 2,238.89 crore. Fresh money is tagged for Rs 180 crore of debt repayment and three expansion blocks, including a Dahej SEZ steam plant, as set out in Steamhouse India’s red herring prospectus.

In the morning exchange print the issue was 0.23 times subscribed, with the QIB line on zero bids, retail at 0.40 times and NIIs at 0.15 times. It had not joined the late-afternoon 1-times group that included Karamtara, Rentomojo and LCC Projects. A 57.86 times book on a debt-funded pipeline company is a different ask from Karamtara’s 35.7 times on a larger, mostly primary issue.

THE BIDDING AND LISTING CALENDAR

1. September 8, 2026: Anchor books close. Rentomojo Rs 376 crore, Manipal Rs 362.25 crore, Karamtara Rs 262.50 crore, ARCIL Rs 220 crore.
2. September 9, 2026: Public bidding opens. By 4:54 p.m., Karamtara 1.33 times, Rentomojo 1.36 times, LCC Projects 1.34 times. Manipal 0.14 times at 4:18 p.m.
3. September 11, 2026: Bidding closes. Residual QIB demand, if it arrives, usually arrives here.
4. September 15, 2026: Tentative allotment.
5. September 17, 2026: Tentative listing on NSE and BSE.

LCC Projects sits in the middle of the pack on size and on mix, with Rs 258 crore fresh against Rs 169.14 crore of OFS and a Rs 4,229.20 crore cap-price market value. Motilal Oswal is the lead manager. Its first-day fill looked more like Karamtara than like Manipal: residual QIBs through 1 times, retail through 1 times, about 118,445 applications.

Grey Market Premiums and QIB Bids Point Different Ways

Unofficial premiums on September 9, from the IPOView tracker, ordered the six as Rentomojo Rs 130 (32.18%), LCC Projects Rs 39 (26.71%), Karamtara Rs 66 (25.98%), Steamhouse Rs 20 (24.69%), ARCIL Rs 28 (20.14%) and Manipal Rs 38 (11.21%). Those prints are not bids on the exchange, and they move.

RESIDUAL QIB BOOKS ON SEPTEMBER 9

• Karamtara: 1.26 times at 4:54 p.m., the only large book that institutions oversubscribed on day 1.
• LCC Projects: 1.13 times at 4:54 p.m., the second institutional fill, in a smaller EPC issue.
• Rentomojo: 0.41 times at 4:54 p.m., after a Rs 376 crore anchor book, with retail and NIIs carrying the 1.36 times headline.
• Manipal Payment: 0.00 times at 4:18 p.m., 616 shares into a book that reserved 75% for QIBs.

August’s listed mainboard cohort, 18 issues, all traded above issue price, with an average gain of 27.41%. That memory is what a 32% Rentomojo premium is selling. FY26’s 7% average listing gain is what a 0.00 times Manipal QIB book is warning about. Bidding runs through September 11. Listing, if the calendar holds, is September 17.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of public offerings, drawn from exchange subscription prints, offer documents and company disclosures, and is for information only. It is not investment advice, a recommendation to apply for or skip any IPO, or an offer to buy or sell securities. Readers should read the red herring prospectus for each issue, weigh their own risk limit and speak with a SEBI-registered investment adviser or a qualified financial planner before placing a bid. Issue sizes, subscription figures, grey market premiums and listing dates can change before allotment and listing.