Divestment Minister Arun Shourie has proposed an "intelligence unit" under the Cabinet Committee on Security that will alert the government on sensitive economic trends.

The minister told reporters today the proposal for an Economic Intelligence Unit had been informally placed before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani.

This assumes significance in the wake of the volatility in the stockmarket over the past week that led to an initial lukewarm response to the share offers of six public sector units.

"The EIU will process economic data and inform the government to facilitate quick decisions," Shourie said.

On the allocation of shares, Shourie said while the details were yet to be worked out, retail investors would get a substantial chunk. Priority would also be given to "early investors," he said.

The government's divestment programme of the government on Friday got a boost with the IBP, Dredging Corporation, CMC, IPCL and Gail issues getting an overwhelming response. In fact, these five public offerings had raised close to Rs 7,127 crore (Rs 71.27 billion) till Friday.

According to merchant banking sources, the IPCL offer for sale was subscribed 3.16 times. Against the 71.8 million IPCL shares on offer, bids for 226.6 million shares were received.

Foreign institutional investors have bid for 75 per cent of the issue, worth about $500 million. Till Thursday, the issue had managed to get a total of Rs 2,862 crore (Rs 28.62 billion) in subscription.

Foreign investors have subscribed to 8 per cent of the issue, and mutual funds another 12 per cent. Retail investors bid for close to 4 per cent of the issue.

Uday Kotak, chairman Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, the lead book running lead manager to the issue told Business Standard: "The first round is over. The government's divestment programme is gathering momentum. We are confident. There is no concern. Liquidity is not an issue."

Offers of oil retailer IBP and Dredging Corporation of India were also fully subscribed late on Friday. The IBP issue received bids for 6.34 million shares, about 110.15 per cent of the issue size of 5.75 million shares. The issue closes on March 1.

The Dredging Corporation issue received bids for 6.941 million shares, amounting to 123.95 per cent subscription for the 5.6 million shares on offer, merchant banking sources said.

CMC was subscribed 7.34 times till late Friday, with bids for 29.2 million shares against 3.97 million shares on offer, merchant bankers to the issue said.

Gail, which opened Friday, was subscribed on the first day itself, its merchant bankers said. The Gail issue received bids for 96.9 million shares against the 84.5 million shares on offer.