Lalithaa Jewellery Mart shares made a robust debut on Monday, August 24, listing at ₹265.30 per share on NSE and ₹260.30 on BSE, reflecting a premium of 31.84% over the IPO issue price of ₹201 per share. The stock demonstrated strong intraday performance, hitting a high of ₹274.40 on NSE and a low of ₹261 during early trading hours. Over 9.22 lakh shares were traded early in trade, indicating active investor interest. The strong listing performance delivered significant returns for investors, with investors who received IPO allotment making ₹4,758 per lot, taking the total value of their investment to ₹4,758 based on the NSE listing price. The lot consisted of 74 shares and cost ₹14,874, making the listing gains substantial for retail participants.
The allotment for the Lalithaa Jewellery Mart IPO was finalised on Thursday, August 20, with investors now able to check their status through multiple channels including the IPO registrar MUFG Intime India, NSE, and BSE websites. The IPO received bids worth nearly 66.63 times the shares on offer, with the QIB portion subscribed 153.80 times, NII category subscribed 78.17 times, and retail portion subscribed 12.51 times. The ₹1,700 crore IPO, which was open for subscription from August 17 to August 19, comprised a fresh issue of ₹1,200 crore and an offer for sale worth ₹500 crore by promoter and founder Kiran Kumar Jain. Domestic financial institutions were the most active within the QIB segment, bidding for over 110 crore shares, while foreign institutional investors bid for approximately 95.6 crore shares and mutual funds participation was comparatively modest at 8.53 crore shares. The IPO price band was fixed at ₹190 to ₹201 per share, with the minimum investment required for subscribing being ₹14,874 for one lot.
Lalithaa Jewellery Mart raised ₹508.2 crore from 22 anchor investors ahead of the IPO opening, including prominent names like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and ICICI Prudential AMC. Of the total anchor allocation, 1.14 crore shares were allotted to four domestic mutual funds - ICICI Prudential AMC, Bandhan Mutual Fund, Samco Mutual Fund and Bank of India Mutual Fund through nine schemes, while Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance and Bajaj Life Insurance invested ₹43.19 crore for 21.49 lakh shares. The IPO was priced in the ₹190-201 per share band, with the company valued at around ₹11,250 crore at the upper price band. The ₹1,700 crore IPO has shown strong market interest with Grey Market Premium (GMP) around ₹37.31 per share against the upper IPO price of ₹201, suggesting a potential listing price of approximately ₹276 per share on NSE, indicating a potential premium of roughly 27% over the issue price. The strong listing gains of 31.84% on NSE and 31.99% on BSE have validated investor confidence in the company's expansion plans and financial performance.
Lalithaa Jewellery Mart reported exceptional financial performance with a CAGR of 22%/60%/68% in revenue/EBITDA/PAT during the FY24-FY26 period, with FY26 EBITDA margin of 6.5% expanding 240 basis points year-on-year. Revenue increased 48.1% to ₹25,023.9 crore from ₹16,897.3 crore during the same period. In FY26, the company's profit rose 177% YoY to ₹1,009.8 crore, demonstrating strong operational efficiency. The company plans to use ₹1,033.2 crore of the net fresh issue proceeds to set up 10 new stores across India, with the remaining funds allocated for general corporate purposes. Gold jewellery remains the company's key revenue driver, contributing 92.33% of revenue in FY26, followed by silver jewellery and articles at 6.63%, while other products contributed the remaining 1.04%. The jewellery retailer currently operates 61 stores across 51 cities in southern India, selling gold, silver and diamond jewellery, with products tailored to regional preferences. The company operates through Large Format Stores and Medium Format Stores, following an asset-light retail model with backward integration and two manufacturing facilities in Chennai and Kanchipuram.
The exceptional 66.63x subscription response of Lalithaa Jewellery Mart's IPO has reinforced analyst preference over Horizon Industrial Parks, which saw a weak subscription response of 0.25 times on the final day. SBI Securities, which assigned a Neutral rating to the issue, noted that LJML's strong revenue and profit growth over FY24–26, a CAGR of approximately 22 per cent and 68 per cent respectively, was substantially aided by a roughly 2.3x surge in gold prices during the period. However, the brokerage cautioned that since the company carries no hedging policy, margins could moderate once gold prices stabilise. Multiple analysts have issued positive recommendations for the stock, with Ventura Securities highlighting the company as a leading mass-market jewellery retail chain in Southern India. BP Wealth noted that at the upper price band of ₹201, the issue is valued at 11.1x FY26 diluted EPS of ₹18.0, compared with the listed peer average P/E of 29.7x, offering a meaningful discount to peers. Nirmal Bang emphasized the valuation gap from peers offers a good investment opportunity, while Geojit Investments recommended a 'Subscribe' call for short to medium term investors given the company's strong store expansion, industry leading revenue per store, robust return ratios, strong brand, and integrated manufacturing-led retail model.
