Rail Vikas Nigam's Rs 482-Crore IPO Subscribed 1.8 Times

State-owned Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd's initial public offering (IPO) to raise Rs 482 crore ($70.45 million) was fully subscribed at the end of the book-running process, stock exchange data showed on Wednesday.

Investors bid for about 458 million shares in the company, which undertakes railway projects, or 1.8 times the 253.5 million shares on offer, as of 6 pm.

The share sale comes amid IPOs by state-run firms such as e-auctioning company MSTC Ltd, which extended the sale by three days and cut the lower end of the price band to attract more investors.

The appetite for domestic equities has picked up days before a national election, amid renewed hopes of a second term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even though investors continued to maintain a cautious stance.

The IPO is through a share sale by the government within a price band of Rs 17 to 19 apiece.

($1 = Rs 68.42)