Aatrey holds an 11.1% stake in Meesho, equivalent to 47.25 crore shares. With the stock climbing to an intraday high of Rs 193.50 on the BSE, his net worth stood at Rs 9,142.87 crore, or about $1.005 billion. Co-founder Sanjeev Barnwal, who owns 31.6 crore shares, now has a stake valued at Rs 6,114.6 crore.
Shares of Meesho surged to Rs 193.50 on Tuesday, well past their listing-day high of Rs 177.50 and comfortably above the listing price of Rs 161.20. The stock has now gained 74.3% from its issue price of Rs 111, cementing a blockbuster debut just days after the company entered the public markets.
From IIT Delhi to the billionaires’ club
Aatrey studied Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, completing his B.Tech in 2012. After graduating, he joined ITC Limited, working in operations from June 2012 to May 2014 in Chennai, before moving to InMobi, where he worked in strategy between June 2014 and June 2015 in Bengaluru.
He has been leading Meesho as its chief executive officer since June 2015. Born in 1991, Aatrey has featured in several young leadership rankings, including Forbes 30 Under 30 (Asia & India, 2018) and Fortune 40 Under 40 (2021).
Meesho’s debut rewrote the script
Meesho made its stock market debut on December 10, listing at a premium to its issue price and closing its first session 53% above the Rs 111 IPO price. After a two-day decline, the stock rebounded, gaining more than 3% on Monday before extending its rally on Tuesday, even as broader markets remained under pressure.Trading activity remained strong in the stock. Turnover stood at Rs 124.38 crore, with a total traded quantity of 66.84 lakh shares. Meesho’s market capitalisation was pegged at Rs 85,207.91 crore on a full basis and Rs 5,279.14 crore on a free-float basis, according to BSE data.
First institutional call adds momentum
The rally has been reinforced by Meesho’s first institutional rating. Choice Institutional Equities recently initiated coverage with a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of Rs 200.
Choice Broking cited a “faster road to profitability” as a key upside trigger and said it values Meesho at 4x FY28E EV/Revenue, supported by a three-stage DCF model and peer benchmarking. The brokerage expects Meesho to deliver a 31% revenue CAGR between FY25 and FY28, driven by “deep value-commerce penetration and logistics efficiencies.”
The brokerage highlighted Meesho’s zero-commission, low-AOV, discovery-led platform focused on Tier-2 and Tier-3 users, along with what it described as a competitive edge in user growth and operational scale. Meesho’s EBITDA is projected to turn positive by FY27E.
At current levels, Meesho trades at 2.4x FY28E EV/Revenue, compared with a peer average of 5.4x, leaving “headroom for re-rating as fundamentals strengthen,” the report noted.
Choice also flagged execution risks, including high dependence on cash-on-delivery, which accounts for 77% of the order mix, and logistical fragmentation. Even so, the initiation positions Meesho as one of the key value e-commerce players on the Street’s radar in India’s underpenetrated online retail market.
Also read | IITian Vidit Aatrey joins billionaire club as Meesho shares rocket 74% from issue price
Meesho IPO demand set the tone
Meesho’s three-day IPO, sized at over Rs 5,000 crore, drew strong demand from institutional and retail investors alike. The issue was subscribed 79 times overall, with the retail portion subscribed to more than 19 times.
The tranche reserved for Qualified Institutional Buyers was subscribed to 120 times the shares on offer, setting the stage for the post-listing surge that has now vaulted its co-founder into the billionaire ranks.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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