(Corrects spelling of "institutional" in headline)
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Indian e-commerce platform Meesho received bids worth about 2.5 trillion rupees ($27.79 billion) for its $604 million initial public offering, becoming one of the most sought-after public issues in the country.
Qualified institutional buyers bid for shares worth about 2 trillion rupees, 120.2 times the shares set aside for them, exchange data showed. The IPO closed on Friday.
The total bids received by Meesho, which include $270 million raised from anchor investors, lag only behind other large Indian offerings from Reliance Power, LG Electronics India and Bajaj Housing Finance, as per Prime Database.
Backed by SoftBank and Peak XV Partners, Meesho's IPO comes in a busy primary market in India, where other technology-driven companies like Groww, Lenskart and PhysicsWallah also made their debuts.
India is set for a record IPO fundraise this year, surpassing 2024's $20.5 billion proceeds.
The strong investor interest in Meesho's IPO indicates appetite for fast-growing new age and consumer-driven companies, as per analysts.
Earlier this year, LG Electronics India drew bids worth $50 billion to become India's most subscribed IPO in nearly two decades.
"Investors are valuing the scalability prospects of the new-age and consumer-driven companies in the medium to long term, which is overshadowing the short term profitability worries," said Aamar Deo Singh, senior vice president at Angel One.
Meesho's revenue rose 29.4% to 55.78 billion rupees in the first half of fiscal year 2026, and its losses narrowed 72.1% to 7 billion rupees, according to its IPO prospectus.
Non-institutional investors bid for 38 times the number of shares offered to them, while the portion set aside for retail investors was bid 19 times.
The shares of the e-commerce player will begin trading on stock exchanges next week.
($1 = 89.9620 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Janane Venkataraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
By Vivek Kumar M
