IPO
Every time a company you have actually heard of “goes public,” that is an IPO. An Initial Public Offering is the first time a private company sells shares to the general public and lists them on an exchange like the NSE or BSE. After listing, anyone with a demat account can buy and sell its shares.
An IPO is a company raising money from strangers instead of a handful of private investors, and giving up a slice of ownership in exchange.
Companies go public to raise money for expansion, to let early investors sell, or because being listed adds credibility. For a retail investor, buying into an IPO means betting on a company’s future before the wider market has had much time to judge it, which is why IPO investing carries more uncertainty than buying an established stock.
In October 2025, LG Electronics India’s ₹11,607 crore IPO drew bids for about 54 times the shares on offer and listed at roughly a 50% premium. A year later, Jio Platforms opened an IPO of about ₹30,000 crore, set to become the largest in Indian history.