The downward slope, according to Prime Database, is owing to poor sentiment, compounded by consistent poor quality of issues, which abound despite entry barriers, resulting in investors rejecting all the eight offerings.

This has lead to substantial devolvements as in the case of Abhishek Spinfab (Rs 20 crore), Dewan Sugars (Rs 14 crore), Welspun Syntex (Rs 35 crore) and the withdrawal of Highway User's issue (Rs 7 crore), which was owing to lack of investors' applications.

The issue of Ashapur Minechem (Rs 20 crore) was so heavily overpriced in comparison to its market price that it evoked no public response, says the Prime Database release.

Of these eight issues, five have brought in Rs 96 from the Rs 111 crore. The remaining three,which were very small, were only technical in nature without any public subscriptions.

As per Prime Database, for the second year in running, equity on the whole seems to have disappeared. The equity public issues raised only Rs 332 crore in the recent six-month period, while the amount in corresponding periods of 1996 and 1997 were Rs 2,273 crore and Rs 341 crore respectively.

Of the Rs 332 crore, the manufacturing sector raised Rs 111 crore, and the remaining 216 crore (65 per cent of the equity raised) was raised by banks, and Rs 5 crore by NBFCs.

"Initial public offerings (IPOs) are heading towards extinction. The IPOs on offer in the first six months of fiscal 1998-99 are 11, compared with 51 in 1997-98, 716 in 1995-96 and 1,350 in 1995-96", says the release.

From April to September 1998, 18 public issues hit the market. Any mobilisation in the primary market was mainly attributed to debt public issues from the Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) and the IndustrialDevelopment Bank of India (IDBI), which together raised Rs 2,076 crore.

The debt and equity issues together raised Rs 2,293 crore, which constituted 95 per cent of the amount raised.

"For 15 months in succession, the primary market has witnessed an extremely low level of activity through public issues, with only 44 such issues between July 1997 and September 1998," says Prime Database manager Prithvi Haldea.