How to Cancel or Modify an IPO Application (2026 Rules)

Yes, you can cancel or modify an IPO application before the issue closes, but only if you are a retail individual investor in a main-board IPO. Retail bidders (bids of up to ₹2 lakh) can raise, lower or cancel the bid until 5 pm on the closing day. HNI and institutional bidders can only raise their bids, and SME IPO bids cannot be cancelled at all, as of October 2026.

This guide explains who can change what, the exact time windows from current offer documents, how to do it through UPI and net banking, and when the blocked money comes back. If you have not applied yet, start with how to apply for an IPO online.

Who can cancel or modify, and until when

The rules below come from the "Issue Procedure" section of red herring prospectuses (RHPs) filed in October 2026 and the exchange circular for SME IPOs. The RHP of each issue is the final word, so check it if an issue looks unusual.

A few points sit behind this table:

• Working days only. Bids and revisions are accepted only on exchange working days, Monday to Friday, from 10 am to 5 pm. Saturdays and public holidays do not count.
• The UPI mandate deadline is 5 pm on the closing day. A change you make at 4:55 pm still needs its mandate approved by 5 pm.
• Offer documents advise not leaving it to the last hour. Recent RHPs ask bidders to submit by 3 pm on the closing day, because heavy last-day traffic can stop some bids from being uploaded.
• SME IPOs work differently. NSE's June 2025 circular, issued after the SEBI ICDR amendments, says that for SME IPOs downward modification and cancellation "shall not be applicable" to any category, and bidding at cut-off is not allowed. See SME IPO vs mainboard IPO for the other differences.

How to cancel an IPO bid

Through your broker app (UPI bids)

1. Open the IPO section and go to "Orders", "Applied" or "My bids".
2. Select the bid and tap Cancel. Most apps ask you to confirm.
3. Check that the status changes to "Cancelled" or "Withdrawn". Take a screenshot showing the date and time.
4. Watch for your bank's SMS. Under SEBI's UPI rules, banks must send SMS alerts when an IPO amount is blocked and when it is unblocked.

You normally do not need to do anything in your UPI app. The cancellation goes to the exchange, the registrar passes it to the banks and the bank releases the hold. Do not try to "revoke" the mandate from the UPI app instead of cancelling with the broker, because the bid may still sit on the exchange platform.

Through net banking (ASBA bids)

1. Log in and open the IPO / ASBA section.
2. Find the application under "View / Modify / Cancel" or a similar menu.
3. Choose Withdraw or Cancel and confirm with your password or OTP. Never share that OTP with anyone.
4. Save the acknowledgement.

If you applied with a paper form at a branch or through a broker's office, go back to the same place and submit the withdrawal or revision request there.

How to modify an IPO bid

Retail investors can change the number of lots or the price. Some common reasons:

• Switch to cut-off. If you bid at a fixed price and the final price is set higher, your bid is rejected. Changing to "cut-off" means you accept whatever final price is fixed within the band. The price band and cut-off rules are explained in IPO price band and cut-off price.
• Change the number of lots, up or down, as long as the total stays within ₹2 lakh for the retail category.
• Fix a mistake in quantity before the deadline.

For a UPI bid, the revised bid sends a fresh mandate request for the full revised amount, not just the difference. Offer documents require you to approve that new request in your UPI app. Until you approve it, the revision is not complete.

For an ASBA bid through net banking, the bank adjusts the block directly when you submit the change.

Things you usually cannot change by modifying are the UPI ID, the PAN or the category. To use a different UPI ID, cancel the first bid and place a new one. One PAN can have only one valid application in an issue, so make sure the old bid shows "Cancelled" before you apply again. If the mandate for a fresh bid does not arrive, see IPO UPI mandate not received.

Worked example: changing a retail bid (illustrative)

Suppose an issue has a price band of ₹410 to ₹432 and a lot size of 34 shares. Retail bids are blocked at the upper end of the band.

Two lessons from the numbers:

1. A revision to 5 lots replaces the old block. Your bank should end up holding ₹73,440, not ₹44,064 plus ₹73,440. If both amounts stay blocked, that is "blocking of multiple amounts" under SEBI's framework: the extra must be released at once, with compensation of ₹100 a day or 15% a year on the extra amount, whichever is higher.
2. Do not revise past ₹2 lakh by accident. A bid of ₹2,05,632 is outside the retail category, and non-institutional bids cannot be lowered or withdrawn.

When the blocked money is released after you cancel

Recent RHPs say the registrar collects cancelled, withdrawn and deleted applications from the exchanges and sends them to the banks (SCSBs) every day within 60 minutes of the bidding close, and the banks should unblock them by the end of that working day. In practice many people see the hold lifted the same evening or the next working day.

The outer limit carries a penalty. As of October 2026, offer documents state:

Example (illustrative): You cancel a ₹73,440 bid on Monday. The issue closes Wednesday, so the two-working-day limit ends on Friday. The hold is lifted only on the following Tuesday, so the limit has been crossed. Compensation then runs from the day you cancelled (Monday) to the day of unblock (next Tuesday):

• Counted as 8 calendar days: ₹100 × 8 = ₹800, against ₹73,440 × 15% × 8 ÷ 365 = about ₹241. The higher figure is ₹800.
• Counted as 6 working days: ₹100 × 6 = ₹600, against about ₹181. The higher figure is ₹600.

Which count applies depends on the issue's documents, so quote the RHP's exact wording in your claim. For comparison, ₹73,440 in a 7% fixed deposit earns roughly ₹113 in eight days; try it in our FD calculator.

If the money stays blocked, follow the escalation steps in IPO money blocked not refunded: bank first, then the registrar, then SEBI SCORES at scores.sebi.gov.in.

If the price band is revised

Companies can revise the price band during the bid period, by up to 20% either side. When that happens, the bid period is extended by at least three working days, with a total cap of 10 working days, and the change is announced through the exchanges and newspapers. That gives retail bidders time to review and revise or cancel. A cut-off bid moves with the final price, but the amount blocked may change, so read your broker's message and approve any new mandate request.

What not to do

• Do not place a second application with the same PAN while the first is still live; duplicates can be rejected.
• Do not wait until 4:59 pm. Your mandate approval also has to arrive by 5 pm.
• Do not cancel just because the mandate is slow in the first few minutes. Check the order status first.
• Do not share OTPs, UPI PINs or screens with anyone claiming to be from the broker, bank or registrar. No genuine official needs them to cancel a bid.
• Do not trust "guaranteed allotment" offers or grey-market tips. See what is IPO GMP for why those figures are unofficial.

You can track open issues and their closing dates on our live IPO dashboard. This article is educational and does not recommend any IPO.

Key takeaways

• Retail investors in main-board IPOs can raise, lower or cancel a bid until 5 pm on the closing day.
• NII (HNI) and QIB bidders can only revise upwards, until 4 pm; they can never lower or withdraw.
• SME IPOs opening on or after 1 July 2025 do not allow cancellation or downward revision for anyone.
• A UPI revision sends a new mandate for the full revised amount; approve it by 5 pm.
• Cancelled bids are usually unblocked the same working day; a delay past two working days after closing earns ₹100 a day or 15% a year, whichever is higher.