Trading in ICICI ADS commenced at 1900 hours IST (9.30 am eastern standard time) on the NYSE and ICICI managing director and chief executive officer KV Kamath became the first CEO of an Indian company to ring the NYSE trading bell in the over two centuries that the exchange has been in existence. The NYSE is the largest market for listed securities in the world and a listing on the exchange signals the arrival of ICICI in the league of global banks. Within two hours of opening, nearly 1.6 million ADSs were traded on the exchange.

Earlier, indicating the continuing confidence amongforeign investors in the Indian economy, the $ 315 million ADS issue was oversubscribed by 5.8 times. ICICI was able to garner $ 1.6 billion through the book-building process. It had entered the market to raise $ 275 million with a green shoe option of $ 40 million. The company has decided to retain $ 315 million.

According to an ICICI official, the price of $9.8 works out to a small discount of 0.3 per cent over the prevailing five day average global depository receipt (GDR) bid price of $ 9.83. However, in rupee terms, the equivalent of the GDR price works out to Rs 85.74 while the ADS in equivalent rupee terms works out to 85.75. This represents a small premium of 0.1 per cent. ICICI shares on the BSE hit the upper end of the circuit, closing the day at a high of Rs 86.35. The counter clocked a volume of 23.3 lakh shares on the BSE.

In a statement released in the evening, ICICI said that the price of Rs 85.75 per share represents a 10.3 per cent premium to the five day average price of the share onboth the domestic exchanges - the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. ``The underlying strength of the demand and the quality of the orders received were such that ICICI was able to price the issue at a premium even to the five day average GDR bid price on the London Stock Exchange," a statement from ICICI said.

ICICI added that using three teams of senior management, ICICI spanned the entire globe in only a week and received orders for its ADRs totalling over $ 1.6 billion. "The issue saw strong demand coming from all over the world with US-based investors providing the largest proportion. Reflecting the strong underlying positive sentiment towards India and ICICI, US-based retail investors put in $ 300 million worth of orders providing them well in excess of the total issue size,'' the ICICI statement said.

Commenting on the issue, DSP Merrill Lynch chairman Hemendra Kothari said "the overwhelming response to the ICICI offering is an indication of the healthy appetite internationalinvestors have for quality Indian paper.'' ICICI will be the second financial institution from Asia after Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi to be listed on the NYSE. Infosys Technologies, listed on Nasdaq, is the only other Indian company listed on an American bourse. Reliance Industries, the largest Indian corporate, is expected to list the shares on the NYSE shortly.

With the successful completion of this ADR issue, ICICI will complete its Rs 2165 crore capital raising programme. ICICI on August 19 approved a Rs 500 crore preferential allotment of equity capital to its principal domestic institutional shareholders (UTI, LIC and GIC) and a Rs 275 crore public issue at a price of Rs 73, followed by an international offering to raise another $ 315 million. Its domestic issue was oversubscribed and the preferential allotment to FIs was successfully completed some days ago.