Sebi extends relief on IPO size tweaks until March 2027

“It has been decided to permit issuer companies to increase or decrease the size of their fresh issues up to 50% without the requirement to file a fresh draft offer document with Sebi. The above relaxation on change in fresh issue size shall be applicable for issues (IPO) opening on or before 31 March 2027,” said Sebi in a letter to the Association of Investment Bankers of India (AIBI) on 12 October.

Guardrails

The relaxation comes with guardrails: the main object of the issue must remain unchanged, and lead managers must certify compliance with Sebi regulations. The regulator has placed the responsibility for ensuring compliance on the lead manager responsible for the issue.

Under current Sebi rules, if the issue size in a fresh issue is changed by more than 20%, the company is mandated to file fresh draft offer documents. That threshold changes to 50% in an offer for sale (OFS).

An IPO issues new shares to raise capital for a company, whereas an OFS allows existing shareholders, such as promoters or early investors, to sell their shares directly to the public without creating new equity.

“The AIBI had made a representation to Sebi on this. The ask had also come in individually from several investment bankers, as markets remain volatile. The relief was needed to ensure that IPO issuances are not forced into a market that may not be prepared for them,” said one of the two people cited above.

Previously, Sebi had extended the validity of IPO approvals for companies planning to go public. Observation letters expiring between 1 April and 30 September 2026 will now remain valid until 30 September, Sebi said in a circular issued on 7 April, giving companies a longer runway to list.

So far this year, the Indian stock markets have seen 102 mainboard IPOs and 183 SME IPOs, according to research platform Chittorgarh.

Apoorva Ajith

Apoorva is a Mumbai-based journalist at Mint who covers the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), tracking the pulse of India’s capital markets, regulatory developments and the people who operate within them. She holds a postgraduate diploma in business and financial journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, where she developed a strong foundation in markets, companies, and economic policy. She began her journalism journey with an internship at Bloomberg, where she worked across beats such as real estate, infrastructure, capital markets, and deals, which helped her understanding of business and finance.She is guided by the belief that everything in this world can be explained in simple and fewer words, and that idea shapes how she approaches her writing. She aims to cut through complexity and present nuanced regulatory and financial developments in a way that is both accessible and meaningful to readers.When she is not tracking market chatter, Apoorva can usually be found deep into a fiction novel or out on a long run. She is also a trained classical dancer in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, and Kathakali.

Agnidev Bhattacharya

Agnidev is a business journalist with over two years of reporting experience tracking the intersection of capital, policy, and corporate strategy in India.He joined Mint in December 2025, after a stint at NDTV Profit (erstwhile BQ Prime). At Mint, Agnidev focuses on the high-stakes world of the Indian capital market, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, burgeoning IPOs, and the investment banking industry.Backed by a rigorous, data-driven approach, Agnidev frequently breaks news on the valuation cycles, deal pipelines and listing strategies of India’s most prominent companies. His reportage offers deep dives into the operational health of market leaders across the corporate landscape, providing readers with a clear-eyed view of institutional growth.He has reported on major issues like India's derivatives frenzy, IPO froth, the competitive quick commerce industry, the real-money gaming ban, and has broken investigative stories related to scandals such as IndusInd Bank's accounting manipulation and the Gensol-BluSmart fiasco.As a reporter, he brings stories that ultimately affect your stock market investments, and tries to bring clarity and brevity in a field that is often filled with jargon and noise.