State gas transmission firm Gas Authority of India Ltd on Friday filed the draft prospectus for the public issue of government's 10 per cent stake with capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.

"We have filed the draft red herring prospectus for the public office today," Gail chairman and managing director Proshanto Banerjee told PTI in New Delhi.

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Of the 84,565,160 equity shares being offered through the book-building route, five per cent are likely to be reserved for the employees of the company while 25 per cent shares will be allotted to the retail investors.

About 45 per cent of the shares on offer have been reserved for Qualified Institutional Buyers while the remaining will be for non-institutional buyers.

Gail public issue will hit the market on February 23 and remain open for bidding in a price band that will be decided a day before the issue opens, till March 1, he said.

After the draft red herring prospectus is approved by Sebi, the offer document will be filed with the Registrar of Companies by February 6 and road shows to attract foreign and domestic investors are planned from February 16.

Road shows will be held in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, London and Edinburgh beside about 18 places in the country.

The price band, if approved by Sebi, will be more elastic than the 20 per cent price range usually offered to prospective investors. Gail has proposed a wider range - 30 per cent - to mitigate the problem of price volatility.