Kathmandu, February 26:

Though the last day of applying for the shares of Nepal Telecomm (NT), today for public, saw a huge crowd at various collection centres, it is said to be under-subscribed.

The government had planned to raise at least Rs 9 billion by selling NT’s share — 4.5 billion in the first phase now and 4.5 billion in the second phase, later.

“However, it seems that the government will be able to raise only three billion rupees now,” said Nandanhari Sharma, general manager of Citizen’s Investment Trust (CIT), the sales manager. “But it is premature to predict as we have called for the sealed bidding,” he said.

The price of per unit share has been quoted at Rs 600 minimum after adding Rs 500 premium to the face value of Rs 100 for each share.

As a part of divestment and privatisation plan, the government planned to sell — in the first phase — 7.5 million unit shares of NT to public through an auction from January 23 to February 26.

Earlier, it had already sold five per cent of the equity to the Telecom’s employees at the rate of Rs 90 per unit.