The much-hyped public issue for the sale of 72 million shares of Maruti Udyog Limited was oversubscribed within three hours of its opening! By the time the public issue closed on June 10, it was subscribed 10 times over.

A total of 3.67 million shares were traded in the first 25 minutes of the session.

The government mopped up Rs 993 crore (Rs 9.93 billion) from the sale. As a result of the oversubscription, the government equity in the joint venture with SMC came down to marginally over 17 per cent.

On July 9, Maruti listed its scrip at Rs 158.40 and Rs 164.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange, respectively.

The lead-manager for the issue was Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and the co-lead managers were ICICI Securities, HSBC Capital Markets India, and J M Morgan Stanley.

Maruti Udyog Limited managing director Jagdish Khattar becomes the 10th corporate chief to ring the ceremonial gong to mark the listing of a company and commencement of trading at the Bombay Stock Exchange, as BSE Executive Director Dr Manoj Vaish (right) looks on.

Photograph: SEBASTIAN D'SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images