HSS has been listed on the Bombay, Delhi and National stock exchanges.A leading financial institution, which also has large stakes in the mutualfund sector, is believed to have expressed its interest to pick up 2-3 percent shares at Rs 1,600 per share, sources added.

The investor interest in HSS had become evident following the whopping Rs6,000 crore that the company had raised as application money, against atarget of around Rs 250 crore, when it concluded the book-building portionof its initial public offering.

HSS had offered a total of 43,75,000 equity shares, of which 90 per cent, or39,37,500 equity shares, were offered through the book-building route.The company had decided to go in for price discovery through thebook-building route, and had suggested a price band of Rs 480-630 per share.A fixed price of Rs 630 per share was derived out of the price-discoveryprocess.

The Hughes Software issue also pips the $1.2 billion which infotech majorInfosys Technologies had managed to attract for its ADR issue earlier thisyear.

The IPO also becomes the first Indian offering to adopt internationalallotment norms for its book-build portion. For the first time, theallotment decisions will be discretionary on the part of the lead manager tothe issue -- Kotak Mahindra Capital Company.

Besides Indian investors, the issue saw an overwhelming response from globalinvestors too. Investors from India and the Far East accounted for 32 percent each, with the US-based and European investors accounting for 27 and 9per cent respectively. Regarding investor profile, high net worthindividuals account for 25 per cent, mutual funds 13 per cent, corporates 17per cent, and FIIs 21 per cent.