Defence-tech listing season is in full swing: Tonbo Imaging's ₹852.18 crore IPO was subscribed 5.33 times overall by 11:35 am on Friday, October 16, 2026 — the second day of bidding — with demand pouring in across every investor category.
Subscription split and issue structure
Retail individual investors (RII) bid 4.69 times their quota, non-institutional investors 8.65 times, qualified institutional buyers 3.93 times, and the employee portion was oversubscribed 9.61 times. The IPO opened on October 15 and was fully subscribed within two hours of opening.
The issue is a book-built offer of around 1.22 crore shares, entirely an offer for sale — meaning the company itself receives no proceeds; they go to the selling shareholders. The price band is ₹665–700 per share with a lot size of 21 shares, so retail investors need ₹14,700 for one lot at the upper end. The issue closes on October 19, 2026. An unofficial tracker put the grey market premium near ₹515 a share (~74%) on Friday evening — unofficial, and it moves fast.
Why it matters for founders
Tonbo's reception — alongside Zetwerk's and Paras Healthcare's issues this week — confirms that public markets are hungry for defence and manufacturing tech, not just software. If you are a deep-tech founder weighing an IPO timeline, the window is open right now: retail and institutional appetite for hard-tech stories is at a multi-year high. Watch how these list on October 23 for the final verdict on pricing power.