ONGC still in top gear

The mega offer for ONGC shares is set to create another record. Investors have bet a whopping Rs 50,000 crore in the ONGC IPO so far as the Rs 10,000 crore issue has already been oversubscribed five times.

For the struggling primary market, this is good news. And the money already pledged is much higher than the total mobilisation in any year so far. The year 2003 has seen only 15 public issues raising only Rs 2,194 crore, according to Prime Database. But this is better than 2002 which had seen only 6 issues raising Rs 1,981 crore.