Ahmedabad: The mayhem at bourses for the second consecutive day forced
thousands of retail investors across Gujarat, who were eyeing huge
listing gains from Reliance Power IPO and Future Capital, rushing to banks to
stop payments for their applications. With retail investors losing substantial
amount in the stock market carnage on Monday and Tuesday which saw investors'
wealth erode by over Rs 10 trillion most banks in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara
and other cities in Gujarat witnessed a rush of panicky investors for making
stop payment of their cheques that were issued in favour of REPL IPO. "We have
received thousands of applications requesting stop payment of cheques for REPL
IPO in most of our branches across the state," said HC Pattnaik, chief general
manager, State Bank of India (SBI), Gujarat circle.
While many investors were concerned over listing gains from this
IPO due to the prevailing situation, many chose to nibble at other stocks which
are considered to be a valuable pick at the current valuations. "I will be
using the money for buying other stocks which are available at comparatively
lower valuations," says Ilyas Shaikh, a resident of Juhapura in Ahmedabad, who
had applied for 225 shares of REPL by making part payment of Rs 25, 875. In
Surat, bank officials carrying fat bunches of returned cheques at clearing house
at Udhna Cross Roads clearly reflected the investors' panic.
"Normally, I come with around 30 returned cheques at the
clearing house but today I am carrying more than 500 cheques," says a
top official at ABN Amro. Ashok Manghani, a textile trader, who rushed to his
bank on Tuesday morning to stop payment to cheque issued by him for two
applications in REPL IPO for 450 shares, said, "With the market crashing I am
sure that I will not get good price at the time of listing. On the other hand I
will prefer to invest in the already crashed stocks for good profit."
"A large number of my clients requested stop payment to their banks
anticipating low listing price while few are also keeping funds to
invest other stocks," says Uday Dhadhal of Suryoday Securities.
Situation in Vadodara was no different. A senior official of a
leading public sector bank in Vadodara said: "At least, 50 persons have
approached us with stop payment requests in last two days."
Jignesh Patel, who runs a software business, said: "The valuation
of REPL shares has gone down in the grey market and there are chances that the
shares might get listed low price. Also, there are very few chances of getting
substantial number of shares. Hence, I decided to stop the payment."
