The initial public offering of Reliance Power made history on Thursday with the bid amount hitting Rs 2,45,000 crore, the highest ever in the Indian primary capital market. The Rs 10,250 crore issue has already been oversubscribed 24 times in the three days since it opened, said investment bankers close to the deal.

The issue, which will close on Friday, had received an overwhelming response from retail investors, with 27 lakh applications, bankers said, adding that the retail portion — 30 per cent of the size of the issue — had been oversubscribed six times. Prior to this, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Petroleum's public issue clocked in 19.5 lakh retails applications, NTPC 14.4 lakh and Power Grid received 12.7 lakh applications.

Investment bankers said they are expecting more than 30 lakh retail applications. The company is offering 26 crore equity shares in the price band of Rs 405 to 450. The retail portion is being offered at a discount of Rs 20 per share.

Reflecting bullish sentiments, the Rs 490-crore public issue of Future Capital Holdings — that closed on Wednesday — was 116 times oversubscribed.

By Thursday, the demand for the Reliance Power IPO had surpassed that of Mundra Port, which generated the biggest demand for its initial offer last year, receiving bids worth about Rs 2,03,000 crore. The IPO of the state-run Power Grid Corporation in 2007 garnered Rs 193,000 crore.