Tonbo Imaging share price opens 66% above IPO price on market debut
By Karan BansalTech Startups Correspondent, Peepals Tech
Representative image: Lalmch / Pixabay
Defence-tech firm Tonbo Imaging listed on 23 October 2026 at Rs 1,162 on the BSE, 66% above its Rs 700 IPO price, then eased to about Rs 1,059 in early trade.
What Happened
The Tonbo Imaging share price opened at Rs 1,162 on the BSE on Friday, 23 October 2026, its first day of trading, 66% above the initial public offering (IPO) price of Rs 700. On the NSE the shares opened at Rs 1,160, a premium of 65.71%. The stock later gave up part of the gain and was trading at about Rs 1,059 on the BSE in early trade, still around 51% above the issue price. Tonbo Imaging is an Indian defence electronics company that designs thermal imaging and night-vision systems.
Key Facts
- Listing day: Friday, 23 October 2026, on the BSE and the NSE.
- Opening price: Rs 1,162 on the BSE (66% premium) and Rs 1,160 on the NSE (65.71% premium), against an issue price of Rs 700.
- Early trade: shares slipped to Rs 1,059.05 on the BSE and Rs 1,058.30 on the NSE, still about 51% above the IPO price.
- IPO size: about Rs 852 crore, at a price band of Rs 665 to Rs 700 a share; bidding ran from 15 to 19 October.
- Demand: the issue was subscribed 135.9 times overall. Large institutional investors bid about 294 times their quota and retail investors about 31 times.
- Structure: the IPO was entirely an offer for sale (OFS) of about 1.22 crore existing shares, so the company itself received no money from it.
- Finances in the offer documents, as reported: revenue fell 22.7% to Rs 362.6 crore in FY26 from Rs 469.1 crore in FY25, and net profit fell to Rs 50.9 crore from Rs 72.8 crore.
Why It Matters
Tonbo Imaging is one of the few Indian deep-tech hardware start-ups to reach the stock market. It designs thermal imaging cores, weapon sights, handheld thermal binoculars, targeting systems and missile seekers. Thermal imaging means seeing the heat given off by people, vehicles and objects, which lets soldiers and police see at night or through smoke, when ordinary cameras fail. According to its offer documents, as summarised in IPO reviews, the Indian government accounted for 71% of its FY26 sales, and the company says more than 28,000 of its systems are deployed across 24 countries.
The strong debut shows how much investors want exposure to Indian defence manufacturing, a sector the government has been pushing to reduce dependence on imports. For founders building hardware for defence and security, a successful listing like this signals that public markets can be a real exit route, something that has been rare for this kind of company.
The listing also has caveats that the company's own numbers make clear. Because the IPO was a pure offer for sale, the money raised went to selling shareholders, such as early investors and founders, not into the business for new factories or research. Revenue and profit both fell in FY26, and reviews of the offer documents report a loss of Rs 17.74 crore on revenue of Rs 37.32 crore in the April to June 2026 quarter, along with negative operating cash flow in FY26. Reviews put the IPO valuation at about Rs 4,010 crore at the top of the price band, roughly 79 times FY26 profit, which is high. The company also relies on contract manufacturers to build its products and, according to the reviews, imported about 63% of its raw materials in FY26.
A high subscription number tells you how many people applied, not whether the company will grow. Defence orders are lumpy: they arrive through government tenders and can shift from one year to the next, which makes revenue uneven.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| IPO price | Rs 700 |
| BSE opening price | Rs 1,162 (66% premium) |
| NSE opening price | Rs 1,160 (65.71% premium) |
| Overall subscription | 135.9 times |
| FY26 revenue | Rs 362.6 crore (down 22.7%) |
Impact
Short-term: Investors who were allotted shares saw a large paper gain on day one, though the price moved sharply within the first hours. Selling shareholders received the full proceeds of the Rs 852 crore issue.
Long-term: The company will now report results every quarter in public, so its order flow, government dependence and profitability will be watched closely. A sustained performance could encourage more defence-tech and deep-tech start-ups to plan Indian listings.
Who is affected: Tonbo Imaging's shareholders and staff, investors who applied in the IPO, other Indian defence and deep-tech start-ups and their backers, and the armed forces and police agencies that buy its systems.
Key Takeaway
Tonbo Imaging opened 66% above its Rs 700 IPO price on 23 October 2026, but the issue raised no new money for the company and its FY26 revenue and profit both fell.
Questions and Answers
What was the Tonbo Imaging share price on listing day?
The shares opened at Rs 1,162 on the BSE and Rs 1,160 on the NSE on 23 October 2026, about 66% above the Rs 700 IPO price, and later traded near Rs 1,059 in early deals.
Did Tonbo Imaging get money from its IPO?
No. The Rs 852 crore IPO was entirely an offer for sale, so existing shareholders sold their shares and received the proceeds. The company raised no fresh capital.
What does Tonbo Imaging make?
It designs thermal imaging and night-vision equipment for defence and security, including thermal cores, weapon sights, handheld thermal binoculars, targeting systems and missile seekers. The Indian government was its biggest customer in FY26.
How did Tonbo Imaging perform financially before the listing?
According to figures from its offer documents, revenue fell 22.7% to Rs 362.6 crore in FY26 and net profit fell to Rs 50.9 crore from Rs 72.8 crore. It reported a loss in the April to June 2026 quarter.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
By Karan Bansal, Tech Startups CorrespondentCovers Tech Start-ups & Stories and more for Peepals Tech. All stories by Karan Bansal
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Karan Bansal is a pen name of the Peepals Global Editorial Team, which researches, fact-checks and publishes every story. The portrait is an illustration.
