The Kolkata-based UCO Bank will refund nearly Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) to applicants who had bid for the bank's initial public offering last month, V P Shetty, chairman and managing director, UCO Bank, said on Friday.

"We will retain Rs 240 crore (Rs 2.40 billion) and the rest of the approximate Rs 4,200 crore (Rs 42 billion) which was collected, is being refunded," Shetty told PTI in Bangalore.

The state-owned bank's IPO for 20 crore (200 million) equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 2 per share, aggregating to Rs 240 crore, was oversubscribed 17.5 times.

He said the issue was oversubscribed 12 times by retail investors and 26 times by institutional investors.

"The allotment was made through a lottery and all the applicants may have not got the shares," Shetty said.

The issue opened for subscription on September 3 and closed on September 10. The bank's scrip is to be listed on the stock exchanges on October 9 following completion of allotment of shares.

Shetty said the bank's growth and profit during the first half of the fiscal would be better than last year, but declined to comment on specific numbers.

With the IPO, the bank's equity capital would go up to Rs 799.36 crore (Rs 7.99 billion) and the government holding would reduce to 74.98 per cent. UCO bank, which has 20 ATMs, planned to increase its network to 150 by March 2004, he said.