The initial public offering (IPO) of Honsa Consumer, the parent company of Mamaearth, saw a dull response from the investors during the first few hours of the bidding process on the day one. The issue, which kicked-off for bidding on Tuesday, October 31, mostly drew retail and employee investors for the bidding.

Honansa Consumer is selling its shares in the price band of Rs 308-324 apiece with a lot size of 46 equity shares and its multiples thereafter. The beauty and personal is looking to raise Rs 1,701 crore via IPO route, which consists of a fresh issue size of Rs 365 crore and offer-for-sale (OFS) of up to 4.12 crore equity shares by its promoters and other selling shareholders.

According to the data, the investors made bids for 31,75,196 equity shares, or only 11 per cent, compared to the 2,88,99,514 equity shares offered for the subscription by 2.30 pm on Tuesday, October 31. The three-day bidding for the issue will conclude on Thursday, November 2.

The portion reserved for retail investors was subscribed 27 per cent, while the allocation for non-institutional investors (NIIs) saw a subscription of merely two per cent. The allocation for employees was 1.75 times, while the quota set aside for qualified institutional bidders (QIBs) was 10 per cent  at the same time.

Majority of the brokerage firms are not very positive and have suggested to give the issue a skip. They are citing aggressive pricing, high portion of OFS, loss making nature of the business and weak financial of the company as the key reasons for it. However, a few are positive on growing demand for beauty and personal care products among the consumers.