Two firsts for Tata Play: First in India to take ‘confidential’ pre-filing route; first Tata listing after TCS

The direct-to-home platform, Tata Play (formerly Tata Sky), has become the first firm to file confidential papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for an initial public offering (IPO). It is Tata Group's first IPO since the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) listing in 2004.

Tata Play has pre-filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) confidentially with the markets regulator on November 29, the Tata group firm has disclosed via a newspaper advertisement.

SEBI introduced the concept of confidential filings in November.

Common in US markets, the company is allowed to keep its offer document private by the pre-filing route until it firms up its IPO plan.

However, according to media reports, the report said that public offer is expected to be at $300-400 million at least.

In recent years, global firms, such as Snapchat, Robinhood, SurveyMonkey, and LINE, have taken the confidential filing route.

Tata Sky rebranded itself in January this year as Tata Play to expand its television-cum-OTT (over-the-top) offerings in combined packages. The platform has added Netflix to 13 OTT services, including Amazon Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar, as part of its so-called Binge packs.