The ESDS Software Solution Limited IPO demonstrated unprecedented market response, achieving full subscription of 2.10 times within just three hours of opening on Friday, August 28, 2026. According to ET Now reports, the issue received bids for 2.59 crore shares against 1.23 crore shares on offer by 15:30 IST, with demand led by non-institutional investors (NIIs) whose portion was subscribed 1.50 times and retail investor quota at 1.40 times subscription. The latest data shows retail portion now subscribed at 2.69 times and NII category at 3.51 times subscription, with QIB portion remaining minimal at 0.01 times subscription. The issue has attracted significant grey-market interest, with shares commanding a premium of ₹360 against the upper price band of ₹429, indicating expectations of a potentially strong listing. The subscription period runs from Friday, August 28 to Tuesday, September 1, 2026, with shares expected to list on both BSE and NSE on Friday, September 4, 2026, subject to the IPO schedule remaining unchanged.
According to CNBC TV18 reports, ESDS Software Solution has secured a massive $14 billion business funnel for artificial intelligence infrastructure, with MD & Chairman Piyush Somani confirming the company's position as one of India's key players in GPU-as-a-Service. The company has already secured a large contract with Sharon AI involving 8,200 GPUs, with a minimum contractual commitment of around $1.2 billion. As per CNBC TV18, Somani indicated that the company has no scope to add more GPUs to this particular AI factory, meaning any new orders will have to be fulfilled through new facilities. The economics of the business are particularly attractive, with building a data centre for an AI factory in India costing around ₹50-70 crore per megawatt, while GPUs installed inside can cost around ₹550 crore per megawatt. Service providers are currently charging around $5-6 per GPU per hour, with rates rising 30-35% every three months. The company expects the Sharon AI deal to begin reflecting in its financials from the current financial year, with potential for substantial spread generation, though specific profit figures have not been committed.
The ESDS Software Solution IPO has demonstrated strong institutional interest with ₹216 crore raised from anchor investors ahead of the public issue opening. The company allotted 50.34 lakh shares to 19 anchor investors at ₹429 per share, with domestic mutual funds receiving the bulk allocation. As per The Economic Times, 41.25 lakh shares, or 82% of the anchor investor portion, were allotted to six domestic mutual funds through 13 schemes, with total allocation of ₹177 crore. Motilal Oswal received the largest allocation with 10.25 lakh shares worth ₹44 crore, followed by Bandhan Focused Fund at ₹28 crore and Bandhan Small Cap Fund at approximately ₹20 crore. Quant Mutual Fund also participated with shares worth about ₹24 crore, while other anchor investors included ITI Mutual Fund schemes, JM Flexicap Fund, Samco Small Cap Fund, Bajaj General Insurance, Sanshi Fund-I, Meru Investment Fund PCC, Cognizant Capital Dynamic Opportunities Fund, and CP Capital. The company is expected to finalise allotment on September 2, 2026, while shares are likely to be credited to demat accounts on September 3, 2026.
The latest grey market premium data shows ESDS Software Solution IPO GMP at ₹360, indicating an estimated listing price of ₹789 per share against the upper price band of ₹429, representing an 83.92% premium over the IPO price. This translates to gains of ₹361 per share and profits of ₹10,914 per lot for retail investors. Recent grey market trends over the past four sessions show that the IPO's GMP has been moving upward, with the GMP ranging between ₹275 and ₹365 during this period. At the upper end of the price band, the company is valued at 41.6 times FY26 earnings and 13.2 times EV/EBITDA on a post-issue basis. The ₹720 crore IPO comprises entirely a fresh issue with no offer for sale component, with the price band fixed at ₹408-₹429 per share. The issue reserves not more than 50% for qualified institutional buyers (QIB), not less than 35% for retail investors, and not less than 15% for non-institutional institutional investors (NII). Investors can bid for a minimum of 34 shares, requiring an investment of ₹14,586 at the upper end of the price band. The ₹576 crore IPO proceeds will be used to purchase cloud computing equipment and infrastructure for data centres, with remaining funds for general corporate purposes.
In March 2026, ESDS Software entered into a strategic AI cloud infrastructure agreement with an Australia-based neocloud AI compute service provider. The agreement has an initial term of five years with an option to extend by a further two years, taking the total potential contract period to seven years. The agreement has an aggregate total contract value of US$1,250 million, with revenue generation expected to commence in the third quarter of fiscal 2027. The company has signed a five-year $1.25 billion deal to deploy a dedicated AI cluster comprising 8,208 NVIDIA B300 GPUs. The investment will not only bolster their infrastructure but also pave the way for new facilities in Kolkata and Sahibabad, positioning ESDS as a trailblazer among India's publicly listed data centre providers. The company operates data centres in Airoli, Bengaluru, Nashik, Noida, and Mohali, with the current footprint spanning five data centres across Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Mohali and Noida. The company commenced operations at its Noida data centre in October 2025 and is in the process of establishing proposed data centres in Kolkata and Sahibabad.
Alongside GPU infrastructure, ESDS is pushing its Swaraj Cloud platform, which Somani describes as a made-in-India cloud platform. According to CNBC TV18, Somani said India's digital sovereignty score currently stands at around 18 and the company's aspiration is to take it to 95 over the next 2,000 days. The company's financial performance has shown remarkable improvement, with revenue from operations rising to ₹472.21 crore in FY26 from ₹286.5 crore in FY24, representing a 64.5% growth. As reported by The Economic Times, ESDS Software claims to be one of only two players in India providing the entire spectrum of GPUaaS, cloud, managed services, data centre infrastructure, and software solutions. The company served over 2,501 customers across banking, financial services and insurance, public sector entities, businesses and enterprises during fiscal 2026, with revenue retention standing at 94.9%, demonstrating strong customer loyalty. For FY26, ESDS Software Solution reported total income of ₹480.65 crore, compared with ₹376.64 crore in FY25, representing a 28% year-on-year growth. The company's EBITDA increased to ₹234.23 crore from ₹154.89 crore in the previous year, with EBITDA margin expanding to 49.6% in FY26 from 35.6% in FY24. The company's net profit jumped to ₹120.82 crore in FY26 from ₹13.6 crore in FY24, representing a 778% increase.
