Mumbai, Jan. 18: Anil Ambani-run Reliance Power today smashed a record in the capital markets when its initial public offering (IPO)closed with subscriptions of over Rs 7.57 trillion ($192.6 billion), which is about Rs 77,000 crore more than what the Manmohan Singh government needs to run its operations this year.

The government’s projected revenue and capital receipts for 2007-08 are Rs 6.8 trillion.

The staggering collection meant that Reliance Power’s public issue of 22.8 crore shares was oversubscribed 73 times as investors scrambled to beat the 3pm deadline.

The Rs 7.57 trillion figure could rise as the process of collating the data went on late into the night.

Anil Ambani has called a press conference tomorrow to announce the final collections.

Capital market observers were gung-ho over the response which had exceeded expectations. “I had expected the issue to end with a demand of up to Rs 3 lakh crore. But this is a sort of frenzy that we have never seen before,” said an investment banker who did not wish to be identified.

Sources said the issue generated huge interest across all investors.

Reliance Power received over 47 lakh applications, more than twice what Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Petroleum Ltd had received in 2006 during its IPO.

The investor mania on the final day could be gauged from the fact that more than 17 lakh applications poured in on Friday.

While the portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed more than 80 times, non-institutional investors and high net worth individuals put in bids that were 200 times the shares on offer.

The retail segment was oversubscribed 16 times.

“There were many retail investors who applied for 225 shares — the maximum allowed for this segment,” a source said. Data available from the stock exchanges, which were not updated at the time of going to press, showed that the offering was subscribed more than 73 times. Against the 22.8 crore shares on offer, the company received bids for over 16,548,002,625 shares.

Paradoxically, the tremendous response came on a day when the sensex sank 687 points and speculation grew that the grey market premium of RPower had slipped from the level of Rs 450 per share few days ago. The health of the IPO market is directly linked to how the secondary markets perform.

“Investors are expecting the company to trade at around Rs 1,000 on listing. Therefore, even if an individual is allotted 15 shares, he can make a profit of Rs 7000 in a matter of only eight days and that is unheard of,” said Arun Kejriwal, director, KRIS.

Reliance Power had announced a Rs 20 discount for retail investors for whom 30 per cent of the 22.8 crore shares were reserved. While QIBs were required to pay 10 per cent of the subscription money on application, retail investors and high net worth individuals also had the flexibility to make a part-payment initially.