The 5 per cent discount offered to retail investors in the six divestment issues does not seem to have had the necessary effect.

The high-profile ONGC issue, which closed on Saturday after being subscribed six times (according to data posted on the National Stock Exchange [NSE] Web site) -- is said to have received bids for 1 crore (10 million) shares against 2.8 crore (28 million) shares offered (data till March 12, 2004).

However, according to merchant banking sources, the number of bids from the retail category has gone up to 1.57 crore (15.7 million) shares -- still not fully subscribed. The high net worth individuals category, which was also offered 2.8 crore shares, was subscribed just once, sources said.

In each of the six offers for sale, 25 per cent of the issue size was reserved for retail investors, another 25 per cent for high net worth individuals and 50 per cent for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs).

Category-wise data posted on the NSE Web site reveal that as on March 12, 2004, foreign institutional investors have put in bids for 64.92 crore (649.2 million) shares, while financial institutions have bid for 1.37 crore (13.7 million) shares. Insurance companies have applied for 0.59 crore (5.9 million) shares.

Domestic mutual funds have put in bids for 2.81 crore (28.1 million) shares as on March 12, 2004, one day before the issue closed.

In the IPCL issue that was floated earlier, retail segment was subscribed only 1.3 times and the high net worth individual segment 0.8 times. The QIB segment was subscribed 8.7 times leading to an overall subscription of 4.9 times.

Similarly, in the case of the IBP and Dredging Corporation of India issues, the contribution of retail investors was only 1.8 and 9 times, respectively (the amount reserved for each of them), while high net worth individuals' subscription was 0.8 per cent and 17.4 per cent, respectively.

In the case of IPCL and IBP, since the bids received in the high net worth individuals category was less than what they were offered, the excess amount to be refunded works out to nil.  In the retail category, the excess refund works out to Rs 86 crore (Rs 860 million) and Rs 81 crore (Rs 810 million), respectively.

Overall, the Dredging Corporation issue was subscribed 17.9 times, and the IBP issue was subscribed 2.8 times.