Indian initial share sales slumped 46 percent last year as a record decline in the benchmark index spurred investors to shun stocks and Emaar MGF Ltd. and Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. to cancel offers. First-time stock sales led by Reliance Power Ltd. declined to 183 billion rupees ($3.8 billion) from 338 billion rupees in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Only one Indian company completed an IPO in the fourth quarter, compared with 19 in the last three months of 2007, the data showed. The Sensitive Index more than halved in value last year and the rupee slumped to a record low as the deepest global slump since the 1930s cut off funds for companies. Sliding interest rates and falling crude oil and commodity prices may help revive offerings after nationwide elections due by May, according to A. Balasubramaniam at Birla Sun Life Asset Management Co. ``Equities could take some time to rebound, which probably may happen after the elections,'' said Balasubramaniam, who manages about $7 billion as chief investment officer in Mumbai. ``Even if the recovery happens, it may not match 2007.'' Deutsche Bank AG was the top ranked arranger of Indian IPOs last year, from 10th in 2007, after arranging Reliance Power's record initial sale. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., the leader in 2007 and a former partner of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in India, fell to third as clients including Emaar, controlled by the biggest Middle East developer, and Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd. scrapped share sales. While Reliance Power, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, raised $3 billion when the stock market peaked in January, Ambani later had to scrap a sale by his telecom infrastructure company Reliance Infratel Ltd. Ambani on Dec. 30 said he may revive the Reliance Infratel offer this year if the market recovers. Investors have lost more than half their investment in Reliance Power. Rights Offers The slumping equity markets forced many companies to resort to rights offers, which nearly quadrupled to 297 billion rupees in 2008, according to Bloomberg data. The rights sale by Tata Motors Ltd., the nation's biggest truckmaker that bought Jaguar Land Rover, and aluminum-maker Hindalco Industries Ltd., which bought Novelis Inc., had to be purchased by the group's founders as investors shunned the stock. Private equity sales to institutions also slumped in 2008 even after the Securities & Exchange Board of India changed pricing rules to facilitate quicker offers. Unitech Ltd., the nation's second-largest real estate developer, had to abandon a private sale intended to repay debt and fund new projects after its stock plunged 92 percent. The global credit crisis that caused more than $1 trillion in writedowns and losses for banks including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co Inc. pared fund raisings through convertible bonds. Foreign currency convertible bond sales tumbled 94 percent to 424 million rupees last year from 7.5 billion rupees, Bloomberg data shows.

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