NEW DELHI: Bidding has begun to slow down though the number of channels being bid for has gone up on the sixteenth day of the e-auction for the first batch of FM Phase III cities. The cumulative provisional winning price touched Rs 1090 crore at the end of the 64th round.

With this, a total of 92 channels in 56 cities became provisional winning channels against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 451 crore.

Thus the summation of provisional winning prices surpassed the cumulative reserve price of the corresponding 92 channels by Rs 638.71 crore or 141.5 per cent.

The cumulative provisional winning price exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch of 135 FM channels in 69 existing cities - Rs 550.18 crore - by almost 98.1 per cent.

The Auction Activity Requirement rose to 100 per cent, after being 90 per cent after the 37th round on 7 August.

The thirteen cities for which bids have still not come are Asansol, Gulbarga, Mangalore, Mysore, Puducherry, Rajahmundry, Siliguri, Tiruchy, Tirunveli, Tirupati, Tuticorin, Vijaywada and Warangal.

The demand in most cities fell by up to three per cent and by four per cent below the excess demand at the price in 60th round in Hyderabad.

The Percentage Price Increment (in INR) applicable for the Next Clock Round was just one in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Cochin, Guwahati, Jodhpur, Kanpur, Mumbai and Nashik.

The highest provisional winning price in Delhi remained the same for the second consecutive day at Rs 169.16 crore (for just one channel), but rose marginally in Mumbai at Rs 114.66 crore (for two channels) and Bengaluru with Rs 109.25 crore.

Among cities recording more than Rs 10 crore, it rose marginally in Cochin at Rs 14.18 crore and Nasik at Rs 10.72 crore.

Chennai at Rs 53.38 crore; Ahmedabad at Rs 42.68 crore, Pune at Rs 42.03 crore, Chandigarh at Rs 19.04 crore, Jaipur at Rs 28.34 crore, Hyderabad at Rs 18 crore, Patna at Rs 17.89 crore and Lucknow at Rs 14 crore remained static.