The ESDS Software anchor lock-in ends on 2 October 2026 for half the shares its anchor investors bought. That is 25,17,482 shares, 15 per cent of everything the company sold in its August IPO. The stock last traded at ₹1,509.50 on 30 September, more than three times the ₹429 issue price.
Anchor investors are the large institutions that buy a day before an IPO opens to the public. Their shares come with a lock-in: 50 per cent for 30 days from the allotment date and the rest for 90 days, under SEBI's rules for the anchor portion. ESDS Software Solution allotted shares on 2 September 2026, so the 30 day clock runs out on 2 October.
What comes free to trade on 2 October
The ESDS Software Solution IPO page has the full anchor book. These are the numbers that matter this week.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Shares allotted to anchor investors | 50,34,964 |
| Share of the total issue | 30 per cent |
| Number of anchor investors | 19 |
| Price anchors paid | ₹429 a share |
| Free to trade from 2 October 2026 | 25,17,482 shares |
| Locked in until 1 December 2026 | 25,17,482 shares |
| Last traded price, 30 September 2026 | ₹1,509.50 |
Who bought in the anchor book
Domestic mutual funds took most of it. Five funds alone picked up a fifth of the whole issue.
| Anchor investor | Shares | Share of issue |
|---|---|---|
| Motilal Oswal Digital India Fund | 10,25,644 | 6.11 per cent |
| Bandhan Focused Fund | 6,52,698 | 3.89 per cent |
| QSIF Hybrid Long-Short Fund | 5,59,436 | 3.33 per cent |
| QSIF Active Asset Allocator Long-Short Fund | 5,59,436 | 3.33 per cent |
| Bandhan Small Cap Fund | 4,66,174 | 2.78 per cent |
ITI Mutual Fund came in through five of its schemes. JM Flexicap Fund, Samco Small Cap Fund, Bajaj General Insurance and Meru Investment Fund PCC-Cell 1 were also in the book.
Where the stock stands against every earlier number
ESDS Software Solution listed on 4 September 2026 at ₹757 on the NSE, 76.46 per cent above the ₹429 issue price. Since then it has almost doubled again. At ₹1,509.50 it is 99.41 per cent above the listing price and 251.86 per cent above the issue price.
The grey market had read the listing far too low. Our tracker showed a premium of ₹247, or 57.58 per cent, on listing morning. The actual open was 19 percentage points higher. GMP is an unofficial dealer quote and not an exchange price, which is why we timestamp every reading.
Demand in the book was heavy. The ₹720 crore issue, which was fresh capital only, was subscribed 135.88 times overall: 261.51 times by QIBs, 192.94 times in the non-institutional category and 39.64 times by retail investors. You can see how that result compares with other 2026 issues on our mainboard listing performance table.
What a lock-in expiry actually means
It means these 25,17,482 shares can now be sold. It does not mean they will be. Mutual funds disclose their holdings every month, so the October filings will show which of these schemes stayed on. Lock-in dates are fixed by the rules and are known in advance, so they are not a surprise to the market.
What happens next
The other 25,17,482 anchor shares stay locked until 1 December 2026, 90 days after the 2 September allotment. The same calendar is running for other recent issues, and we covered the Lumino Industries lock-in that ended on 1 October. ESDS Software Solution's full issue papers, including the anchor allocation note, are in its RHP filed with SEBI.
