India's Emaar MGF Land Ltd, which aims to raise $1.6 billion from its initial public offering, received bids for 16 percent of the issue on the first day.

The bids were mostly at the lower end of the price band, as investors remain edgy in a volatile market.

The company, an Indian joint venture of Dubai's Emaar Properties, reduced the offer price on the eve of the IPO because of changed market conditions, which also forced Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd to scale down its IPO.

In contrast, Reliance Power's $3 billion issue was lapped up by investors in one minute in the middle of January, and the company said on Friday it had begun refunding 1 trillion rupees ($25.4 billion) in excess application money.

Emaar MGF's IPO price range, initially set at 610 rupees to 690 rupees ($15.50 to $17.50) per share was reduced to 540 rupees to 630 rupees ($13.7 to $16), cutting the maximum it can raise to $1.64 billion from $1.8 billion.

If the IPO is priced at the lower end, Emaar MGF would raise $1.4 billion.

Data from the the National Stock Exchange showed the IPO received bids for 16.49 million shares on its first day, of the total offering size of 102.57 million.

After a five-year bull run in the Indian market and a record $8.3 billion raised from IPOs in 2007, Indian companies had a pipeline to raise up to $15.8 billion from new listings this year, according to Thomson Financial data.

But investor sentiment has wilted as the Bombay Stock Exchange's main index lost 14 percent from its record high of 21,206.77 points hit on Jan. 10. Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd., the first Indian company to cut the size of its IPO, has not received bids for even 1 percent of the shares on offer on the second day of its IPO.

The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 47.1 percent in 2007, recording its strongest growth in four years. It rose nearly 73 percent in 2003, 13 percent in 2004, 42 percent in 2005 and 46.7 percent in 2006. - Reuters