Just Dial IPO India‘s biggest in 2013

Indian search engine Just Dial's initial public offer to raise $174 million was oversubscribed nearly 12 times in what marked the country's biggest IPO this year, stock exchange data showed on Thursday. 

The figures were released after the share offer, one of the largest to date by an Indian internet firm, closed on Wednesday. 

The Mumbai-based firm, which launched in the mid-1990s as a telephone-based directory and later expanded its operations to the internet, got bids for 157.7 million shares -- close to 12 times the 13.5 million shares available. 

Just Dial had said it aimed to raise up to Rs 950 billion ($174 million) from the offering whose shares were priced at up to Rs 543 ($10). 

Founded by the company's managing director, VSS Mani, Just Dial features 9.1 million Indian business listings on its website and nearly three-quarters of its revenues come from advertisers. 

Mani established Just Dial, which posted profit last year of 523 million rupees ($9.5 million), with seed capital of just $1,000. Its growth has been fuelled by India's explosive expansion of mobile and internet subscribers. 

"When we launched (the internet site) in 2007, we had 60,000 users a day. Now, we have a million-plus (users). Over 60% of our queries come from our website," Mani said. 

Backers of Just Dial, which now has 4,000 employees, include investment firms Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and SAP Ventures.