How to apply for an IPO in MeroShare

Applying for an IPO is the cheapest way into the Nepal Stock Exchange. A minimum application blocks Rs 1,000, the money comes back if you are not allotted, and the whole thing takes a few minutes once your accounts are set up. What trips people up is everything around the form: the CRN, the blocked funds, the lottery, and the gap of weeks between allotment and the first day of trading. This is the full sequence, as of October 2026.

What you need before you apply

Applications run through MeroShare, the portal CDS and Clearing Limited (CDSC) operates. Three things have to exist before the first issue opens, and one of them is the step most first-time applicants miss.

What you need	Where it comes from	What it does
Demat account and BOID	Your Depository Participant — a bank, merchant bank or licensed broker	Holds the shares. The 16-digit BOID is your permanent identity in the market.
MeroShare login	Issued by your DP, or registered at meroshare.cdsc.com.np	Where the application is actually made.
CRN from your bank	Your bank's C-ASBA desk	Links your bank account to your BOID so the money can be blocked.
Transaction PIN	Set inside MeroShare	Authorises applications, and later, share transfers.

The CRN is the one people forget. It is not your account number and it does not come from CDSC — it comes from the bank where the money will be blocked, and it is what ties that account to your BOID. Without it, MeroShare will not accept an application. Not because you filled the form in wrong, but because there is no account to block the money in.

One more thing before the forms: your name has to match across your citizenship certificate, your bank account and your demat record. A mismatch is the most common reason an application is rejected or a credit goes astray, and it is far easier to fix at a bank counter in a quiet week than during a five-day IPO window.

Applying in My ASBA, step by step

1. Log in at meroshare.cdsc.com.np, or in the MeroShare app. Type the address rather than following a link — copies of the login page exist.
2. Open My ASBA from the menu. Every issue currently open is listed with its price, minimum units and closing date. FPOs and right share applications appear here too.
3. Click Apply on the issue you want.
4. Choose the bank account you linked with your CRN, then enter the number of units. MeroShare shows the total amount, which is units multiplied by the issue price.
5. Enter your CRN and confirm with your transaction PIN.
6. Check the application under My ASBA. Until the window closes you can edit or cancel it.

That is the whole application. Once the plumbing exists it takes a few minutes — the part that catches people out is not the form, it is the money and the timing.

How many units to apply for

For a standard issue the minimum is 10 units. At the Rs 100 face value most Nepali issues carry, that is Rs 1,000. You can apply for more, and the full amount gets blocked.

The minimum is set per issue, though, and this is where a general guide stops being useful. Read the offer document for the issue in front of you instead of assuming Rs 1,000 is enough. As of October 2026, 10 units remains the standard minimum.

Applying for more than 10 units does not improve your odds of getting those 10. If an issue is oversubscribed — and most are — allotment is a lottery, and the first round gives each successful applicant a maximum of 10 units. Only if shares remain after that round does the size of your application start to matter.

Your money is blocked, not taken

C-ASBA stands for Centralised Application Supported by Blocked Amount, and the name is literal. When you apply, your bank places a lien on the application amount. Your available balance falls by that amount; your actual balance does not. In your statement it usually appears as a blocked or lien balance.

If you are allotted, the amount is debited. If you are not, the block is released automatically once the result is out and the money is available again.

The application itself costs a small fee. Banks' published schedules differ, so confirm what yours deducts before you apply.

After the window closes

An issue usually stays open for one to two weeks. Then two things happen in sequence.

First, your bank verifies the application. This is where a name mismatch, a lapsed account or a CRN pointing at the wrong account becomes a rejection.

Then, if the issue is oversubscribed, CDSC runs the allotment lottery. Results are usually out within about 15 working days of the issue closing, though it varies by issue.

How to check your IPO result

Check in MeroShare under My ASBA, where your application shows its status, or on CDSC's IPO result page using your BOID. The result tells you how many units you were allotted — often 10, sometimes none.

Do not enter your BOID on any site that is not CDSC's or your own DP's. It is your identity in this market, and third-party "IPO result checker" pages that ask for it are a known way to lose it.

The mistakes that cost people an allotment

• A name mismatch. Citizenship, bank account and demat record all have to agree. Fix it at the bank before you apply, not after.
• No CRN, or the wrong one. The CRN has to belong to the same bank account you select in MeroShare.
• Applying twice. CDSC tracks applications by citizenship number and BOID. A second application for the same issue, from the same person or a second demat account, is rejected.
• A lapsed renewal. Demat runs about Rs 100 a year and MeroShare about Rs 50. Let either lapse and the account stops being able to apply.
• Shared contact details. A phone number or email used across family demat accounts causes trouble at verification.
• Logging in through a link. Bookmark the official MeroShare address and use nothing else.

From allotment to listing

Allotted shares do not arrive on the T+2 clock that governs ordinary trades. IPO shares come through a corporate action at CDSC, and in practice they are credited to your demat roughly a couple of weeks after the result. They then have to be listed on NEPSE before they can be traded at all, which can take several more weeks.

The practical point: being allotted is not the same as being able to sell. Between the result and the first tradable day there is a gap of weeks, and nothing you do in MeroShare shortens it. Where the shares open depends on the market they list into. Nepsense's records put the NEPSE index at 2,634.17 on 16 October 2026, the last session before the exchange closed for Dashain from 17 to 23 October. The listing price can sit above or below what you paid.

What it costs to sell

Once the shares are listed, selling is an ordinary secondary-market trade. It settles on T+2 — the same clock that governs a NABIL order, explained in how T+2 settlement works — and the same charges apply.

Charge	Rate	When it applies
Broker commission	0.36% up to Rs 50,000; 0.33% to Rs 5 lakh; 0.31% to Rs 20 lakh; 0.27% to Rs 1 crore; 0.24% above. Minimum Rs 10 per transaction.	Buy and sell
SEBON fee	0.015% of trade value	Buy and sell
DP charge	Rs 25 per scrip per settlement	Buy and sell
Capital gains tax	3.75% of the gain if held over 365 days; 5% if held 365 days or fewer; 10% for institutions	Sell, on profit only

On a 10-unit allotment that cost Rs 1,000, the fixed charges matter more than the percentages. Selling at the same price would cost Rs 10 in minimum commission, Rs 0.15 in SEBON fee and Rs 25 in DP charge — roughly Rs 35, or about 3.5% of the position, before any tax. The percentages scale with the trade size; the Rs 25 and the Rs 10 floor do not. That is why a 10-unit allotment is not a trading position. It is a small holding with a fixed cost floor under it.

Capital gains tax is withheld at settlement, on the gain only, and your buy-side charges count towards the cost it is measured against. Most allottees sell inside a year, so 5% is usually the rate that applies; the full mechanics are in the capital gains tax guide. Commission, SEBON fee and DP charge stack up the same way on every trade, and the complete breakdown is in what a NEPSE trade costs.

Individual stocks move inside a 15% daily band under the rules that took effect in April 2026, and the exchange trades Monday to Friday, 11:00 to 15:00 — see NEPSE trading hours for the session timings. Before you sell, check today's NEPSE index and the sector the scrip sits in. A listing that opens into a falling market behaves nothing like one that opens into a rising one.

Key takeaways

• You need three things before an IPO opens: a demat account with a BOID, a MeroShare login, and a CRN linking your bank account.
• The minimum is 10 units for a standard issue — Rs 1,000 at Rs 100 face value — but check the offer document, because the minimum is set issue by issue.
• C-ASBA blocks the money, it does not debit it. You only pay if you are allotted, and the block is released if you are not.
• Oversubscribed issues are allotted by lottery, and the first round caps each successful applicant at 10 units. Applying for more does not raise your odds of getting 10.
• Allotment is not tradability. Shares are credited roughly a couple of weeks after the result, then have to list before they can be sold.
• Selling triggers commission, the SEBON fee, the Rs 25 DP charge and capital gains tax — and on a 10-unit holding, the fixed charges dominate.

Once a scrip starts trading, the chart is where the rest of the work happens. You can open one on a free Nepsense account and watch how a new listing behaves before you decide anything.