MUMBAI — India has recorded one of its biggest initial public offerings in recent years despite the dampening impact of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, with the float of a major credit card firm over-subscribed 26 times, officials said.

^{SBI Cards & Payment Services} drew in bids for 2.25 billion shares, exceeding the 100.3 million shares that were on offer by the final day of bidding, a spokesman for the bank told AFP.

It raised as much as $1.4 billion in the country's first IPO by a credit card company, a spokesman for top public lender State Bank of India told AFP.

Analysts said they had anticipated a higher subscription rate but acknowledged that the spread of the coronavirus had major knock-on effects on markets and the wider economy.

"But looking at current economic conditions globally, the IPO has still fared better (than expected)," an economist at Mumbai-based Anand Rathi Securities, Sujan Hajra, told AFP.

The State Bank of India, which held 74 percent of SBI Cards, was selling its four percent stake. Carlyle Group, which held 26 percent, was selling its 10 percent stake.

HDFC has the largest credit card business in India with 13.3 million cards, followed by SBI Cards with 9.4 million.

Shares in the State Bank of India were up one percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex index in Mumbai as the markets closed Thursday. — AFP