Mkt seems wary of PhysicsWallah vision

While online learning drives PhysicsWallah's volume and scale, offline centres have emerged as key growth lever.

- Abhinaba Saha [e-mail]

PhysicsWallah's ₹3,480crore initial public offering (IPO) is set to test whether investors have appetite for a prominent "affordable edtech" story. Early signals suggest they remains cautious.

The grey market premium (GMP) for the company's shares has recently halved, slipping to just ₹5 as of 8 November from ₹9 two days prior. This erosion of confidence points to a modest expected listing gain of only 4-5% at a projected price of around ₹114 per share.

The shares will be offered in a price band of ₹103-₹109 apiece, with the offer opening on Tuesday. The total issue includes a substantial ₹3,100 crore fresh issue of shares and a smaller ₹380 crore offer for sale by its two founders, Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari. They will together continue to own about 70-72% of the company, post-listing.

Nonetheless, the cooling sentiment reflects a cautious market mood towards loss-making startups, particularly in the shadow of Byju's collapse, said Anil R., research analyst at Geojit Investments. "Byju's hangover still lingers over the edtech space, even as investors recognise PhysicsWallah's disciplined approach and mass-market ambition," he said.