The money in a retail IPO application is blocked, not paid, on the day you apply. ASBA is the system that makes the block. For most retail bids the block shows up as a UPI mandate: your broker raises it, your UPI app asks you to approve it, and your bank marks the amount so you cannot spend it twice. If shares are allotted, the bank debits the issue price times the shares you received. If they are not, the bank is supposed to release the block on the timetable in the prospectus. Understanding that life cycle stops two expensive confusions: thinking the money has already been lost, and ignoring a lien that overstays its date.
Approve it, or the bid is unfinished
A bid submitted at the broker without an approved mandate is not a complete application. The approval has to happen in the UPI app tied to the ID you typed, before the bidding window closes, and with enough balance for the block. The amount will be lot size times the upper price if you bid at cut-off. People who approve a smaller figure they calculated from the lower price are approving the wrong mandate. Lot size and cut-off is the multiplication. How to apply is the order of clicks.
You approve inside your own UPI app. No employee, registrar, or website should ask you to read out a PIN or an OTP. A mandate request that arrives when you have not applied is not yours. Decline it. IPO week attracts copies: fake “mandate failed, approve again here” messages. The real request is the one that matches the amount and the timing of the bid you just submitted at a broker you already use.
While the block is on
The cash is still yours, and it is not available. Plan for the overlap. Three open IPOs can block three cheques at once. A mandate can also fail on the last day because the balance dipped. Do not move the blocked funds. Do not close the bank account. Modification and cancellation of the bid, if you change your mind, have to happen inside the bidding window through the broker, and a fresh mandate may be required. After the close, you cannot ring the company and ask for the block back early because the premium turned negative.
Multiple applications from one PAN are consolidated. The blocks may appear from different brokers and still belong to one person in the registrar’s eyes. Keep each mandate’s amount written down so the bank statement is not a surprise.
If you are allotted
The debit should match the final issue price, not the GMP, and not a guessed midpoint. If you bid at cut-off and the price is discovered at the floor, the debit is lower than the block and the difference is released. The shares go to the demat account on the credit date. Your cost for tax and for your own records is the allotment price times the shares, plus any broker charges your contract note shows. The premium you saw online is not part of the cost and not part of the proceeds until you actually sell on the exchange.
Check the share count against the registrar status. A debit without shares, or shares without a debit that matches, is a reconciliation problem for the broker and the bank on that day, not a reason to panic-sell something you cannot see.
If you are not allotted
The refund is usually not a credit of new money. It is the removal of the lien, because the money never left. On the unblocking date the available balance returns. Some banks show this more clearly than others. Look at the lien list, not only at notifications. The timetable date is in the IPO page and in the prospectus. Give the bank that date before you assume failure.
If the date has passed and the block is still there, collect three things: the registrar status showing you were not allotted, the application number, and the UPI reference if the app shows one. Speak to the bank that issued the mandate and to the broker. The registrar’s own investor line, printed in the prospectus, is the next stop if those two point at each other. How to check status keeps you on the real domain while you gather the screenshot. Do not pay a third party who offers to “speed up the refund”. There is no legitimate fee for releasing an unallotted retail mandate.
If the whole issue is withdrawn
When an offer does not meet the minimum subscription, blocked amounts across the book are released. You did not lose the application in a lottery. The offer did not happen. The release can take the same operational path and the same patience with bank timelines. Undersubscribed issues describes that outcome. Your GMP disappointment is irrelevant to the release. The block ends because there are no shares to pay for.
What we cannot see
The contact form cannot view your lien, approve a mandate, or instruct your bank. We can explain the timetable and point at the registrar. The rest is your bank, your broker, and the prospectus dates. Keep PINs out of email. The privacy policy says the same thing because people attach screenshots they should crop. A mandate is a bank instruction. Treat it with the same care as any other block on your savings, and with no more romance than that. It is not an investment return. It is a hold.