How to apply for an IPO on the Zerodha Kite mobile app

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 11 May 2026. Reading time ~6 min. Level: Beginner.

Key facts

Surface	Kite app on Android (Play Store) or iOS (App Store)
Navigation	Bids (bottom nav) → IPO
Submit gesture	Swipe-to-submit (not a tap)
Time required	2–4 minutes (excluding UPI mandate approval)
Mandate cutoff	5 PM IST on bid closing day

This guide walks through applying for a mainboard Initial Public Offering on the Zerodha Kite mobile app for Android and iOS. The Kite app exposes the same IPO module as Kite web and as Console (legacy), but with a touch-optimised mobile interface — the navigation is bottom-tab driven, the bid entry form is a full-screen card, and the final Submit control is a swipe gesture rather than a tap. The underlying UPI ASBA mechanism and the regulatory framework are documented in the Initial Public Offering wiki.

Step-by-step procedure

Open the Kite app on your phone. If you have previously set up biometric login (Face ID, Touch ID on iOS, fingerprint on Android) or a PIN, sign in with that. Otherwise, enter your Zerodha client ID and password and complete two-factor authentication by entering the time-based one-time password from your authenticator app. The app loads the dashboard with the marketwatch as the default screen.

Tap the Bids icon in the bottom navigation bar. (Depending on your app version, Bids may be visible directly or accessible through More.) The Bids screen lists currently open IPOs at the top with their price band, lot size, bid window and current subscription metadata. Below the open IPOs you will see Orders, which lists your past and pending IPO applications.

Select the IPO and tap Apply

Tap the IPO card for the issue you want to apply for. The issue detail screen displays the company name, the price band, the bid opening and closing dates, the minimum lot size, the minimum application amount at the cut-off, and a link to the Red Herring Prospectus. Review the RHP before applying. Tap the Apply button at the bottom of the screen.

Tap Apply again and enter UPI ID

On the next screen, tap Apply again to open the bid entry form. The form is a full-screen mobile-optimised layout. Enter your UPI ID in the form username@bank (for example, 9876543210@ybl or rajesh@okaxis). The investor type defaults to Individual (retail).

Enter or edit Quantity and Price

Enter your bid quantity in multiples of the lot size; the form rejects any value that is not a multiple. Enter a price within the price band or tick Cut-off to bid at the cut-off price. You can add up to three bids by tapping Add bid. The amount blocked through the UPI mandate is the highest of the three bid values.

Tick the undertaking and swipe Submit

Tap the SEBI undertaking checkbox to confirm the bid is not a duplicate and you satisfy retail eligibility. Then swipe the Submit slider control to the right to submit. The swipe gesture is deliberately different from a tap; it serves as a confirm-this-action guard against accidental submission on a touch screen. The bid status reads Pending Mandate within thirty seconds.

Approve the mandate in your UPI app

The mandate request from the sponsor bank is pushed to your UPI app, typically within thirty seconds of submission. If your phone has notifications enabled, you receive a Block Funds for IPO push notification from your UPI app. Tap the notification or switch to the UPI app, open the Pending Requests or Mandate section, review the block amount, beneficiary and validity, and enter your four- or six-digit UPI PIN to authorise.

The bank places a lien on your savings account against the block amount. Return to the Kite app; the bid status updates from Pending Mandate to Mandate Accepted. If push notifications are enabled, you receive a notification from Kite confirming the status change.

Check status under Bids → Orders

Tap Bids in the bottom navigation, then tap the Orders tab. The bid card shows the current status: Pending, Mandate Pending, Mandate Accepted, Modified, Withdrawn, Rejected, Allotted or Not Allotted. The Kite app displays the status in real time and pushes a notification when the status changes (subject to your app notification settings).

What can go wrong

Mandate notification does not appear. The same root causes as on Kite web. Pull-to-refresh the Pending Requests section in your UPI app. If push notifications are disabled, open the UPI app manually.
Swipe Submit not working. Some Android skins (notably Xiaomi MIUI and OnePlus OxygenOS in certain versions) interfere with full-screen swipe gestures. Try a slower, more deliberate swipe; if it persists, switch to Kite web on a browser.
App crashes on bid submission. Rare but reported during peak subscription. Reopen the app, navigate to Bids → Orders, and check whether the bid was nonetheless submitted before re-applying.
Biometric login fails repeatedly. Tap Use password and sign in with your password. Reset biometric in Profile → Settings once signed in.
Bid status stuck at Pending. The exchange has not yet acknowledged the bid, usually due to a temporary network blip. Pull-to-refresh the Orders tab; if it persists for more than fifteen minutes, raise a Zerodha support ticket.

References

How to apply for IPOs and how to stay informed of new ones, Zerodha Support Portal — Kite app procedure section.

Reviewed and published by

WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

Last reviewed: 11 May 2026
Conflicts of interest: WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.