Samvardhana Motherson Finance?s (SMFL) withdrawal of its R1,665-crore initial public offering (IPO) last Friday has once again dashed hopes of a revival in the primary market this year. Motherson Finance is the second public offer to be withdrawn this year after that of Goodwill Hospital & Research Centre. Of the four other issues that hit the market in 2012, only MCX?s R663-crore IPO (subscribed 54.1 times) and MT Educare?s R65-crore public offering (subscribed 4.8 times) saw a good response.

As many as 14 firms have let their one-year validity period for launching IPOs worth R5,353 crore expire in 2012. This would mean that these firms will have to refile their offer documents with Sebi. Another R2,000-crore worth of public offerings, including that of Reid & Taylor and Tata Autocomp Systems, may lapse in the next two months.

About 43 firms currently have a valid approval from the market regulator Sebi to launch their IPOs. Ortel Communications (R1,000 crore), Powerica (R650 crore), Kalpataru (R1,000 crore) and PC Jeweller (R600 crore) are some of the big-ticket IPOs lined up this year.

?The secondary market has to recover first; only then will the primary market see a revival,? said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head (research), SMC Global. Market participants don?t see an uptick in new issuances for the next two quarters. The Sensex has risen 6.6% in the year to date.

It?s been a tough year for companies wanting to raise fresh money. In 2011, 29 companies let the validity period for their IPOs expire, which were collectively worth more than R32,000 crore. This included some big ticket IPOs such as Jindal Power (R7,200 crore), Reliance Infra Tel (R5,000 crore), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (R3,067 crore), Sterlite Energy (R3,000 crore) and Lodha Developers (R2,500 crore).

Of the 37 issues that hit the market last year, 26 are currently trading in the red. Taksheel Solutions, Indo Thai Securities, Mid Valley Entertainment, Acropetal Technologies, Shilpi Cable Technologies, Paramount Printpackaging, Bharatiya Global Infomedia, Brooks Laboratories and Tijaria Polypipes are trading more than 80% below their issue price. There are exceptions ? the likes of Lovable Lingerie, Aanjaneya Lifecare, Rushil D?cor, Onelife Capital Advisors and Flexituff International are trading more than 80% above their issue price.

Indian companies raised R5,966 crore in calendar year 2011 by way of IPOs, the lowest since 2007, according to data compiled by Prime Database. The Sensex retreated more than 24% in 2011 on the back of negative newsflow from overseas and local problems such as high inflation and rising interest rates.