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A few days after every IPO closes, its registrar publishes a document called the Basis of Allotment — a category-wise breakdown of how many shares were reserved, how many applications came in, and how the lottery or proportionate allotment played out. Most first-time investors have never opened one, and when they do, the wall of numbers can look more confusing than it needs to be.
This guide breaks down what's actually in the document, where to find it for any IPO, and how to read the numbers so you understand not just whether you got shares, but why the outcome looked the way it did.
What Is the Basis of Allotment Document?
The Basis of Allotment (often shortened to "BoA") is a regulatory filing that the registrar submits to the stock exchanges once allotment for an IPO is finalised. It exists so that the entire allotment process — how many shares each investor category was entitled to, how many applications actually came in, and how the registrar's computer-based lottery or proportionate formula distributed the available shares — is transparent and auditable, not a black box.
It covers the issue as a whole, broken down by investor category: Retail Individual Investors (RII), Non-Institutional Investors (NII, sometimes split into sNII and bNII), and Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB), plus the employee and shareholder quotas where applicable.
Where to Download the Basis of Allotment PDF
Find out who the registrar is
Every IPO has a designated registrar — commonly KFin Technologies, Link Intime India, Bigshare Services, Skyline Financial Services, or MUFG Intime (formerly Cameo). This is listed in the IPO's prospectus and on its listing page on IPOBee.
Visit the registrar's official website
Each registrar hosts an "IPO Allotment Status" or "Investors" section on its own website (not a third-party site) where recent issues are listed along with their allotment documents.
Search for the company name
Select or search the specific IPO from the dropdown or search bar — registrars typically handle several IPOs at a time, so make sure you pick the exact company and issue date.
Download the "Basis of Allotment" PDF
This is usually a separate link from the individual "Check Status" tool — look for a document titled Basis of Allotment, Allotment Advertisement, or similar, often also mirrored on the NSE and BSE websites.
Cross-check dates against the IPO timeline
The BoA is typically released the same day allotment is finalised — usually T+3 working days after the issue closes — just ahead of demat credit and refunds. Check the exact dates on the IPO's page on IPOBee if you're unsure whether it's out yet.
How to Read the Category-Wise Numbers
The core of the document is a table like the one below (illustrative figures, not any specific IPO). Here's what each column means:
| Category | Shares Reserved | Applications Received | Times Subscribed | Allotment Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail (RII) | 40,00,000 | 3,20,000 applicants | 8.0x | Lottery — 1 lot per 1 in ~8 applicants |
| NII (HNI) | 20,00,000 | Bids for 3,00,00,000 shares | 15.0x | Proportionate to bid size |
| QIB | 40,00,000 | Bids for 2,80,00,000 shares | 7.0x | Proportionate to bid size |
"Times Subscribed" tells you demand relative to what was on offer in that category — an 8x figure in retail means eight times more lots were applied for than were available. "Allotment Basis" tells you the mechanism: retail allotment (minimum lot only) is decided by a computerised lottery when oversubscribed, while NII and QIB allotment scales proportionately with the size of each bid. See our full explainer on how IPO allotment actually works for the mechanics behind each method.
Common Terms You'll See in the PDF
- Successful applicants: Applicants who were allotted at least one lot of shares in that category.
- Unsuccessful applicants: Applicants who applied but received no shares — either due to the lottery not selecting them, or a technical rejection.
- Technical rejections: Applications invalidated for reasons unrelated to the lottery — an unapproved UPI mandate, a bid below cut-off price, or a PAN/demat mismatch. Some BoA documents list this separately from the lottery-based unsuccessful count.
- Lottery ratio: Expressed as "1 in X" — the odds any single retail application had of being selected for one lot in that category.
- Proportionate basis: The method used for NII and QIB categories, where allotment size scales directly with the number of shares bid for, rather than a lottery.
Frequently Asked Questions
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