The additional offering of Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) which will help the government to inch close to its divestment target in fiscal year 2019 has received applications aggregating worth ₹50,000 crore. The one-day Additional Offering Period (AOP) managed by ICICI Prudential AMC launched on 14 February saw a subscription of over 14 times, said an official statement.

“The offering attracted an aggregated subscription amount of approximately ₹50,000 crore from all categories of investors. The total number of applications received stands at approximately 1.25 lakhs," said a statement issued by ICICI Prudential AMC.

The sale is part of the government divestment target of ₹80,000 crore set for this fiscal. The government has so far raised ₹22,900 crore through the Bharat-22 ETF. While ₹14,500 crore was raised in November 2017, another ₹8,400 crore was raised in June 2018.

The central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) that are part of the ETF include ONGC, IOC, SBI, BPCL, Coal India and Nalco.

Other constituents include Bharat Electronics, Engineers India, NBCC, NTPC, NHPC, SJVNL, GAIL, PGCIL and NLC India. Only three public sector banks — SBI, Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda — figure in the Bharat-22 index.

Also, the government’s strategic holding in Axis Bank, ITC and L&T, held through Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), has been put in the ETF basket.

This would be the second ETF offering by the government in the current fiscal which ends in March. In November last year, the government had raised ₹17,300 crore through a follow-on offer of another exchange traded fund — CPSE ETF, which comprises shares of 11 public sector enterprises. This was the biggest-ever fund raising from an ETF domestically.

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