MUMBAI: Market regulator SEBI has said it never asked companies to use only the French Auction route for public issues, which failed to elicit the desired response from investors.

"We have not prescribed French Auction. It's a choice of the issuer," Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman C B Bhave said here.

He said if issues are not getting desired benefits from French Auction, the issuers can always change it.

The French Auction route did not yield the required results for the National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (NTPC) and the Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC) issues.

The poor response to NTPC and REC issues has prompted mineral giant National Minerals Development Corporation to contemplate using the book-building process for deciding the price band of its forthcoming follow-on public offer.

In the French Auction route, permitted by SEBI a few months ago, institutional investors only get the minimum bidding price of the issue while the non-institutional investors like retail buyers get the issue at the floor price.

In the book building route, companies give a price band for their public offer. Investors are asked to bid within the band and even non-institutional investors get the shares at the price where the maximum bids have come.