LIC

Retail demand for India’s stake sale in Life Insurance Corp. lagged institutional interest, leaving the individual investor portion undersubscribed after the government increased the offering’s size to $3.3 billion. The two-day offer-for-sale, which closed Wednesday, attracted bids for about 69% of the shares set aside for retail investors, according to BSE Ltd. data. The category placed bids for about 57.1 million shares, compared with 82.2 million shares reserved for retail investors. This contrasts with robust institutional demand Tuesday, which prompted the government to increase the size of the sale to 6.5% from the initially planned 2.5%. That makes the transaction India’s largest secondary share sale conducted through a stock exchange platform and the second-largest equity fundraise.