Govt's up to $275 mln SAIL share offering oversubscribed

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The government's sale of a 5 percent stake in state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) to raise up to $275 million was oversubscribed by late afternoon on Friday, exchange data showed.

The offer, part of the government's divestment programme to raise $9.5 billion in the fiscal year ending in March 2015, had received bids for about 305.8 million shares, or 1.5 times the offer size, by 3 p.m., according to the stock exchange data.

Bidding for the SAIL shares will close at 3.30 pm India time.

(Reporting by Aman Shah in Mumbai; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee)