The ministry of divestment hopes to finalise the prospectus for the initial public offer for 25 per cent of its equity in Maruti Udyog Ltd and file the documents with the Securities and Exchange Board of India by next week, paving the way for the float in the current financial year.
"We have convened a meeting of the three book-runners on January 6 to finalise the prospectus. It will be filed before Sebi in the next couple of days and we hope to get a date for the public issue around early March," a senior divestment ministry official said.
The government is rushing through the public offer since it has to keep the March 31 deadline. The finance ministry has been assured that the proceeds from the IPO will come in the current financial year.
Merchant bankers, however, do not share the government's optimism. "The divestment ministry can request Sebi to expedite the process, but there are several steps in the process. The prospectus has to be published and advertisements have to been given out. The book-building process also takes some time," said a merchant banker.
The public issue involves selling 3.6 million shares in the domestic market through the book-building route. Each of the shares of Rs 100 face value will be split to smaller units to ensure greater participation in the issue.
"We have decided in principle to split the shares. The decision on whether to split each share into 10 or more units will be taken at the January 6 meeting," the official said.
The public offer has been underwritten by Suzuki Motor Corporation at Rs 2,300 per share. Both Suzuki and the government are trying to realise a better price for the equity.
Suzuki had initially proposed a hard underwriting to bind the merchant bankers to a higher base price for the shares.
After the idea of hard underwriting was struck down by Sebi, the Japanese auto giant insisted on a third book-runner to ensure better marketing of the issue.
Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd is acting as the book runner, while ICICI Securities along with a consortium of JM Morgan Stanley and HSBC, are acting as the co-book runners for the public offer.
© 2026