Monday, March 10, 2008

Will the IPO market dry up.

Reliance Power was truly a power packed IPO, but what it did on its debut listing is a lot like what the power scenario is in India today- black-out. Not only did the issue unnerve the markets, it probably dealt a blow to the others waiting in the wings.
Some of the IPO's have already fallen by the wayside- Wockhardt Hospitals and Emaar MGF. Others will now probably wait for the markets to regain its glorious heights so that they can charge the unjustified premium for their 'worthy' shares.
Amongst this one company that has gone ahead and filed the drhp for the IPO with SEBI- Cox & Kings, a travel company. Is it a bravado in such turbulent times? or is there a reason to believe that this IPO will not fall flat like others.
Tourism as one would know is not a sector that is hot at present in India, at least the markets don't think so. But history shows that the markets bounce back each time with different sectors as favorites. It was banking once, then came software, infrastructure, power and now who knows what the markets will favor. My bet is amongst the various sectors- tourism is going to be the flavor of the season to come. Let me qualify my belief- India is today a global hot-spot because of the booming commerce. Invariably this builds lot of goodwill about it across the world. One has to look at what the commerce boom has done to China's tourism and the answer will be obvious for India too.
Already one is seeing the growth in the interest in tourism and the actual numbers are also increasing. And not just the incoming tourist, Indians are one of the highest spenders when they go abroad. With the number of millionaires on the rise in India, it will not be surprising if the Indian tourist will become synosure of the eyes of the world.
This brings me back to the point of the IPO, now looking at this picture certainly one would consider this sector as the next boom area. Also because the contribution of this sector is very minuscule to the GDP of the country, this provides great scope to the industry in terms of growth. Compare the GDP contribution of tourism of other developed and developing countries and you will know what I mean.
So will you want to invest in the Cox & Kings IPO as and when it arrives? I sure think one should.
For the news related to the Cox & Kings IPO, click on the link:
http://www.bluebytes.info/newscheck/DetailedNews.aspx?compid=539&id=266108