Every initial public offering applicant should get shares if they have a minimum secondary market investment of Tk 10,000, said an IPO assessment committee formed by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) last week.

It thinks every BO account-holder should make subscriptions of at least Tk 10,000 in the fixed-price method and Tk 20,000 in the book-building method.

Currently, investors offer Tk 5,000 when they subscribe to an IPO. A lottery is held with winners getting a set number of shares. Those whose names do not come up get the whole of their offer returned to their BO accounts.

The seven-member committee was formed to suggest how every applicant could get shares from IPOs. It sat in a meeting on Sunday when the opinions came up. IPO's shares should be divided amongst all the subscriptions, doing away with lotteries, a committee member told The Daily Star.

Whatever a subscription ends up getting should be deducted from the subscription offer, and the remainder should be returned to the investor, he said.

The committee also thinks that the duration from an IPO offer to the debut trading day should be reduced from 45 days to 30 days.

"We will submit the recommendations to the commission and then it will finalise the procedure and give approval," he said.

Stock investors were not happy about the upcoming recommendation on raising the subscription offer, saying the change would reduce investors' participation in the primary market.

"If the recommendation is accepted, we will have to invest a huge amount of funds to get primary shares. So, the commission should conduct further analysis about the subscription money," said stock investor Abdul Mannan.

However, ensuring primary share for every applicant is a good initiative, he said. "This meant every investor would get at least some primary shares."

There are more than 25.33 lakh beneficiary owners accounts, according to the Central Depository of Bangladesh.

The new IPO process will benefit real stock investors because it will give them primary shares for sure, said a top merchant banker.

But with the subscription offer doubling or more, it might reduce liquidity in the secondary market, he said.