Tonbo Imaging's ₹852-Crore IPO Closes 136 Times Subscribed as Institutions Pile Into Defence Electronics

Public-market investors have given a clear verdict on one of India's best-known defence-electronics start-ups. Bengaluru-based Tonbo Imaging's ₹852.18-crore initial public offering closed on 19 October with bids for about 136 times the shares on offer, according to Inc42 and IPO tracker IPOji. The shares are due to list on the BSE and NSE on 23 October.

How the book filled

The issue opened on 15 October at a price band of ₹665–700 a share. Demand built slowly at first: HDFC Sky reported an overall subscription of 7.78 times by the evening of day two. Non-institutional investors (NIIs) led at 14.35 times, retail investors had bid for 7.14 times their quota, and qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) for 3.95 times. Institutions often bid late, and that is what happened here. Then came the usual final-day rush.

By 3:27 pm on 19 October, Upstox, citing NSE data, put the book at 115.59 times. HDFC Sky reported 135.68 times at 4:40 pm, with qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) at 293.56 times, NIIs at 170.81 times and retail investors at 30.67 times. Inc42 and IPOji gave a closing figure of 135.9 times. Exchange data reproduced by Chittorgarh and Angel One showed 132.81 times later in the evening, with NIIs at 156.36 times and retail at 31.11 times. The small differences come from snapshots taken at different times and from how the NII and retail books were tallied. All sources agree that the institutional book was oversubscribed nearly 300 times.

Before the issue opened, Tonbo raised about ₹255 crore from 43 anchor investors. Share allotment is expected to be finalised on 21 October. With the retail portion oversubscribed about 31 times, most retail applicants will receive no shares at all, since retail allotment is done by lottery for the minimum lot.

No new money for the company

The IPO is entirely an offer for sale (OFS). Existing shareholders are selling shares, Tonbo is issuing no new ones, and none of the ₹852 crore goes to the company. YourStory described the issue as an exit route for investors. That matters when reading the demand: buyers are paying for a stake in an existing business, not funding an expansion plan.

What Tonbo makes

Tonbo was founded by Arvind Lakshmikumar, who serves as chief executive, with co-founders Ankit Kumar and Cecilia D'Souza. It designs thermal-imaging, night-vision and sensor systems for the military. Its products include weapon sights for day and low-light use, a smart thermal weapon sight that can add ballistic calculations, handheld thermal imagers and thermal binoculars. It also builds fire-control and drone-reconnaissance systems, and licenses imaging cores to other equipment makers. A core feature of its technology is multi-sensor fusion: infrared and visible-light images are combined into one picture using computer vision.

The company's devices gained attention in India after they were used during the response to the 2016 Pathankot air base attack, as FactorDaily reported at the time. FactorDaily also reported that US Army Special Forces bought around 15 of its thermal-imaging devices in 2012.

The numbers investors bought into

Tonbo's prospectus numbers, as reported by several brokerages and outlets, are not a simple growth story. Revenue from operations fell about 22.7% to ₹362.65 crore in FY26. Exports collapsed by about 93% to ₹20.21 crore, just 5.6% of revenue against roughly two-thirds a year earlier. Domestic sales more than doubled to ₹337.47 crore. Profit after tax fell about 30% to ₹50.88 crore, helped by a ₹14.23-crore write-back of warranty provisions. EBITDA fell about 25% to ₹104.62 crore, though the EBITDA margin held at 28.85%, close to the previous year's 29.65%. Operating cash flow was negative at about ₹63 crore, total debt rose to ₹116.06 crore, and the company reported a net loss of ₹17.74 crore in the June 2026 quarter.

Lakshmikumar has said the FY26 decline reflects delays in executing international programmes, with some expected orders slipping into FY27, rather than a change in the business. Investors appear to have accepted that, betting on the domestic order pipeline and on export orders coming back.

Reading the demand

The shape of the book is worth noting. Retail demand, at about 31 times, was strong but not extreme. Most of the oversubscription came from institutions and high-net-worth investors in the NII category. Large institutional demand usually suggests fund managers see long-term value, not just a listing-day trade. Grey-market activity before listing also pointed to strong expectations, though grey-market prices are unofficial and often wrong.

Why it matters

The scale of demand says less about one company than about how Indian markets now view defence electronics. India has long relied heavily on imports for many kinds of military electronics. Defence policy now pushes domestic procurement, and recent emergency buying has favoured Indian suppliers. Tonbo's swing from export-heavy to almost entirely domestic revenue in a single year shows how far that shift has gone.

The listing also matters for India's deep-tech funding chain. Hardware start-ups need long, capital-heavy development cycles, and their venture backers need a way to cash out. A heavily oversubscribed OFS from a defence-electronics maker shows that public markets will provide that exit. It is likely to encourage other defence and space hardware companies preparing their own IPOs.

There are caveats. Heavy oversubscription does not guarantee a strong listing, and Tonbo's recent financial trend is weak. Export revenue that depends on a few large international programmes can swing sharply from year to year. The real test begins on 23 October, and then with Tonbo's first quarters as a listed company: whether delayed international orders turn into revenue, and whether domestic demand holds.

Sources

• https://inc42.com/buzz/tonbo-imaging-ipo-oversubscribed-40x-on-day-3-till-now/
• https://hdfcsky.com/news/tonbo-imaging-india-ipo-subscription-status-day-3
• https://hdfcsky.com/news/tonbo-imaging-india-ipo-subscription-status-day-2
• https://upstox.com/news/market-news/ipo/tonbo-imaging-india-ipo-day-3-check-subscription-status-allotment-date-and-steps/article-202047/
• https://www.chittorgarh.com/ipo_subscription/tonbo-imaging-india-ipo/3215/
• https://www.angelone.in/news/ipos/tonbo-imaging-india-limited-ipo-allotment-status
• https://www.ipoji.com/ipo/tonbo-imaging-india-ipo
• https://yourstory.com/2026/10/tonbo-imagings-rs-852-crore-ipo-offers-investor-exit
• https://www.multibagg.ai/market-pulse/articles/ipo/tonbo-imaging-export-revenue-shift-rhp-cmv4tsay4000ktipl8ob6skop
• https://rupeezy.in/blog/is-tonbo-imaging-ipo-good-or-bad
• https://archive.factordaily.com/indian-army-imaging-systems-tonbo/