HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd's initial public offering was subscribed 4.9 times on the last day of the sale on Thursday, in what was the fourth billion dollar-plus IPO in India this year. The insurer's two main shareholders aim to raise 86.95 billion rupees ($1.3 bln) from the offering, and institutional investors bid for 16.6 times the number of shares on offer for that segment, while the retail portion was subscribed 91 percent, data as of 1330 GMT showed.
India has seen a record year for IPOs with more than $11 billion of initial share sales, including HDFC Life's, so far. But high valuations, especially for some of the recent insurance IPOs, have weighed on investor sentiment. HDFC Life's rival SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd, which made its trading debut last month after a $1.3 billion offering, is trading 6 percent below its IPO issue price. State-run reinsurer General Insurance Corp of India, which also listed last month after a $1.7 billion IPO, has lost more than 13 percent from the IPO issue price. Top non-life insurer New India Assurance Co Ltd, also state-run, is set to start trading on Monday after its $1.5 billion IPO last week was subscribed 1.2 times.