Index
Index
Investor Categories · Part 3 of 9
17.98 and 24.68. Those were the final subscription multiples for the two HNI pools in LG Electronics India's IPO, a gap of roughly 37% inside a single investor category. Anyone bidding above ₹2 lakh is called an HNI, but SEBI splits that group into two pools with separate quotas, separate odds and different incentives to borrow. This guide uses LG's October 2025 IPO to show how the pools work, why a bigger bid does not always mean more shares, and what funding a bid costs.
Practical Tips
One Category, Two Pools
| Feature | sNII (small) | bNII (big) |
|---|---|---|
| Bid range | ₹2 lakh to ₹10 lakh | Above ₹10 lakh |
| Share of NII quota | One-third | Two-thirds |
| Share of a standard issue (15% NII) | About 5% | About 10% |
| LG IPO minimum bid | 14 lots, 182 shares, ₹2,07,480 | 68 lots, 884 shares, ₹10,07,760 |
| Cut-off price bid, withdrawal | Not allowed | Not allowed |
HNI is the market's name and NII is SEBI's. HUFs and individuals alike fall here once a bid crosses ₹2 lakh. Before 2022 one pool served everyone, so a ₹5 lakh individual competed with a ₹50 crore corporate bidder, which is why SEBI split it.
LG Electronics India: What the Pools Looked Like
| Category (final, 9 October 2025) | Subscription |
|---|---|
| QIB (excluding anchors) | 166.51x |
| bNII (above ₹10 lakh) | 24.68x |
| sNII (below ₹10 lakh) | 17.98x |
| NII overall | 22.44x |
| Retail | 3.55x |
| Overall | 54.02x |
LG's price band was ₹1,080 to ₹1,140 and a lot was 13 shares, so one lot at the top of the band cost ₹14,820. The bNII pool drew more demand than sNII even though it is the harder pool to enter. SEBI's data does not say why, but big bids are usually the ones most often funded with borrowed money.
Practical Tips
How NII Allotment Works Now
SEBI's 2022 rule gives every successful NII applicant at least the minimum application size, with a draw of lots deciding who gets it when applications exceed the shares available. Whatever remains after that is allotted proportionately. In practice, the minimum allotment unit appears to be the sNII minimum in both pools. NSE's published numbers (September 2026) fit this, and LG's would be 14 lots.
That sets a threshold. A bid only gets its proportionate entitlement, instead of a lottery ticket, if bid lots divided by the subscription multiple clears the minimum.
| LG pool | Subscription | Lots needed to clear the minimum | Approx. bid value |
|---|---|---|---|
| sNII | 17.98x | About 252 | About ₹37 lakh (above the sNII ceiling of 67 lots) |
| bNII | 24.68x | About 346 | About ₹51 lakh |
So in LG's IPO nearly every sNII bid sat in the lottery, and a bNII bidder needed roughly ₹51 lakh just to get out of it. These are rule-of-thumb figures; the registrar's Basis of Allotment document gives the exact ratios.
Why Big Bids Are Often Borrowed
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Bank limit | RBI raised IPO financing from ₹10 lakh to ₹25 lakh per person in October 2025 |
| NBFC limit | A ₹1 crore per-borrower cap on IPO funding applied from April 2022; ask the lender for the current figure |
| Loan length | Typically 3 to 5 trading days, from close of bidding to listing |
| Interest | About 7.5% to 18% a year, depending on lender and borrower |
| Margin | 1% to 2% for very large borrowers, up to 40% to 50% for smaller ones |
| Charged on | The full loan, whether or not you get an allotment |
Practical Tips
Which Pool Should You Bid In
| Your bid | Pool | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
| Up to ₹2 lakh | Retail | Cut-off pricing and withdrawal are allowed, so use it if you can |
| ₹2 lakh to ₹10 lakh | sNII | Day 2 and Day 3 subscription of sNII |
| Above ₹10 lakh | bNII | The threshold formula, and what borrowing really costs |
Bids cannot be withdrawn once submitted. Before committing a large amount, look at the live subscription of each pool on the last day and run the formula. If your bid would sit in the lottery anyway, a smaller bid gives you the same odds with far less capital tied up.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
HNI and NII are the same category: any bid above ₹2 lakh. Since 2022 it splits into sNII (one-third of the quota) and bNII (two-thirds). In LG Electronics India's IPO, bNII closed at 24.68x and sNII at 17.98x. A draw of lots decides minimum allotments when oversubscribed, so a bid needs roughly the minimum lots times the subscription multiple to clear the lottery. Interest on a funded bid is charged on the full loan regardless of allotment. Run the numbers on the last day before you commit.