From sprint to stumble: Has the mad rush to invest in IPOs lost momentum?

IPO got allotted to me),” Yadav says about early 2024, even as other retail investors rushed in, mostly following influencers, not research. He stayed in the game through 2025, but with doubt creeping in. “Yeh investment band kar dena chahiye (I should stop this investment),” he admits.Yadav’s father, who quietly invested in mutual funds and SIPs, had steady gains—no frenzy, no swings, just consistency.

The contrast was hard to ignore.What puzzled Yadav most was the advice: buy more when markets fall. Logical in theory, impossible in practice. “How can one do that… when you’re already fully invested and sitting on losses?,” he says.

“IPOs no longer feel like easy wins.”Yadav isn’t rushing into IPOs anymore, and he is not alone. The frenzy seems to have faded.For many retail investors, the IPO narrative has subtly changed. “The market just doesn’t feel the same right now,” says Pankaj Sabnani, a 39-year-old independent investor and research analyst, who once rode the wave of blockbuster listings but has stayed away from new issues over the past three to four months.It wasn’t always like this, says Sabnani.

Back in September 2024, for instance, Bajaj Housing Finance delivered eye-popping gains; he recalls pocketing as much as 114%, the kind of return that fuelled the retail frenzy.But the recent experience has been far more muted. Take Lenskart’s listing in November last year—it debuted with a 3% loss and ended the day flat, turning what was a high-expectation bet into a “no gain, no loss” outcome, he says.“Earlier, listings felt like quick wins. Now, even good names aren’t giving that pop,” says Sabnani, summing up a broader shift, where the easy money seems to have dried up, and retail enthusiasm is giving way to