In terms of returns to the investors, the picture is not very pleasing as per the Prime study. Of the 21 issues, 2 recent ones are yet to be listed. Significantly, of the balance 19 issues, as many as 13 are currently quoting even below their offer prices, leave aside providing any appreciation. The 6 banks who are in the positive returns list (in descending order) are HDFC Bank, Global Trust Bank, State Bank of India, United Western Bank, Bank of Punjab and Corporation Bank.

Contrary to expectations, investments in 6 of the 8 nationalised banks have resulted in losses toinvestors. While there has been a huge appreciation in SBI and to an extent in Corporation Bank, the balance issues have collectively given a loss of nearly Rs 900 crore to the investors. The story is not very different with the other sector banks, though with lesser losses.Looking at it in another way, Haldea stated that if a person had bought 1000 shares in each of the listed 19 issues, he would have made a loss of Rs 1,79,650 on an investment of Rs 9,77,000, a depreciation of 18 per cent. While this may not appear too bade when compared to the losses in the non-banking sector, it still provides little solace as banks have always been heralded as the saviour of the primary capital market.

According to Prime, the heydays for bank issues seem to be over in terms of response, which were fancied in the earlier days. While the issue of Oriental Bank of Commerce had attracted 17.99 lakh applications, SBI 16.60 lakh and HDFC Bank 11.07 lakh, the only issue to cross the 5 lakh mark in the subsequent years hasbeen the ICICI Bank issue (6.64 lakh). Similarly in terms of oversubscription, which is a measure of mass appeal, while the Global Trust Bank's issue in August 1994 topped with a 57 time oversubscription followed by Federal Bank (56 Times) and HDFC Bank (53 Times), all issues since November 1997 have seen an oversubscription of less than 4 times.

According to Prime, the nationalised banks which have made public issues are State Bank of India (Rs 1240 crore, 1993, Rs 90 premium), Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 360 crore, 1994, Rs 50 premium), Dena Bank (Rs 75 premium), Bank of India (Rs 675 crore, 1997, Rs 35 premium), Corporation Bank (Rs 304 crore, 1997, Rs 70 premium), State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (Rs 66 crore, 1997, Rs 440 premium, face value Rs 100) and State Bank of Travancore (Rs 69 crore, 1997, Rs 500 premium, face value Rs 100).

The newly set up private sector banks which have tapped the market are Global Trust (Rs 26 crore, 1994, par), Bank of Punjab (Rs 30 crore, 1995, par), HDFC Bank (Rs 50crore, 1995, par), ICICI Banking Corp. (Rs 144 crore, 1997, Rs 25 premium), IndusInd Bank (Rs 180 crore, 1997, Rs 35 premium) and UTI Bank (Rs 74 crore, 1998, Rs 11 premium).

The other non-nationalised banks to have raised equity from the public are United Western Bank (Rs 6 crore, 1994, Rs 10 premium), Federal Bank (Rs 32 crore, 1994, Rs 80 premium), Karnataka Bank (Rs 54 crore, 1995, Rs 110 premium), Dhanalakshmi Bank (Rs 40 crore, 1996, Rs 40 premium), Jammu and Kashmir Bank (Rs 70 crore, 1998, Rs 28 premium), City Union Bank (Rs 21 crore, 1998, Rs 25 premium) and South Indian Bank (Rs 51 crore, 1998, Rs 22 premium).

The future of bank issues, according to Haldea, seems uncertain, given the rising levels of NPAs, the general state of the economy and the poor performance of the earlier bank issues. Though as many as 20 banks have announced plans to tap the market when the indices have been on an upswing, only a couple of these may actually see the light of the day in the next few months. IDBI Bank isone of them.

As per Prime, among 20 issues, four were from SBI subsidiaries: State Bank of Hyderabad (Rs 58 crore), State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Patiala ( Rs 300 crore).

The other nationalised banks which had announced plans to mobilise money are Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank (Rs 100 crore), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 150 crore), Canara Bank (Rs 700 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 450 crore), Punjab and Sind Bank (Rs 300 crore), Punjab Bank (Rs 500 crore), Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India (Rs 900 crore) and Vijaya Bank (Rs 360 crore). The amounts indicated are the ones announced by the banks.

Of the nationalised banks, PNB had come very close to making its Rs 500 crore public issue having got even its prospectus approved by SEBI in April, 1998. Poor market conditions have, however, forced a deferment. The newly set-up private sector banks, which have yet not taken the plunge but would need to do so in the near future to meet with the RBI directives include Centurion Bank(Rs 34 crore), IDBI Bank (Rs 80 crore) and Times Bank (Rs 250 crore), as per the Prime report.