Like the previous two tranches, this time too, ICICI plans to offer unsecured redeemable bonds amounting to Rs 300 crore and the right to retain an oversubscription of another Rs 300 crore. The offer is in tune with ICICI's stated objective of tapping the retail market at regular intervals, albeit with smaller amounts.

According to merchant banking sources, Safety Bonds October '99 will have a regular fare of bonds. On offer would be instruments with regular returns, deep discounts, tax savings or step-up interest.

In fiscal 1999-2000, ICICI has already tapped the domestic market thrice - twice with a debt issue and once with an equity issue, which was a pre-cursor to the ADS offering. The interest rates on the instruments are likely to be maintained at the same level as that of the July issue. Thismeans ICICI would be offering an yield of 12.1 per cent for a 3-year monthly income plan as against UTI MIP's 10.5 per cent (tax-free).

The May issue of the Safety Bonds mopped up Rs 328.52 crore, while the July issue is reported to have mobilised around Rs 310-320 crore. According to a senior official of ICICI, the Safety Bond collections cannot be compared to that of IDBI's Flexibond 7 or other financial institutions. ``We are more focussed on retail investors and, as a policy, discourage large applications. In fact, any amount of over Rs 1-2 crore is necessarily routed through our treasury window. This helps us maintain lower holding costs which, in turn, ensures low cost of funds. Besides, we come out with 3-5 issues every year compared with only 1-2 from IDBI, so it is important to look at the combined yearly collections of both for a comparison.''