India's Reliance Power raised $3 billion in India's biggest-ever initial public offering on Tuesday, with the sale fully subscribed within a minute and covered 2.5 times within 25 minutes of its opening.

Most bids for the 228 million shares on sale to the public were at the top end of the IPO price band at 450 rupees ($11.5) per share, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The founder, billionaire Anil Ambani, on Monday had bought the owners' stake of 32 million shares at 450 rupees per share.

A Reliance Power spokesman earlier said the IPO, India's biggest yet, had been fully subscribed in the first minute after it opened.

The issue closes Jan. 18.

Reliance Power plans to build power plants across India using funds raised by selling 10 percent equity in the firm, which is 50 percent owned by utility Reliance Energy Ltd (RLEN.BO: Quote, Profile, Research).

Indian IPO volumes soared to a record in 2007 when new listings raised $8.3 billion from 91 issues, including real estate firm DLF's (DLF.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) $2.3 billion issue, which is so far India's biggest IPO, according to data from Thomson Financial.

For more details, double-click on [ID:nBOM38131] (Reporting by Rina Chandran; Editing by John Mair)

Source : http://www.reuters.com