MUMBAI, Dec. 2 -- SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho comes to the public markets this week confident in a model that has rewritten India's e-commerce rules-building a vast, low-price marketplace with one of the industry's lowest average order values (AOVs), even as it continues to test that model's limits.

Its Rs.5,421 crore initial public offering, or IPO, opening Wednesday, is built around a large Rs.4,250 crore fresh issue and a sharply reduced offer for sale (OFS), trimmed by nearly 40% from, from 11.8 millions shares to 16 million shares. Early investors have pared back their exits, but founders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Kumar have increased theirs, from Rs.6.7 crore to Rs.15.2 crore each a move that hints at both liquidity needs...