Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd. cut the size of its initial public offering, the first Indian company to reduce a sale amid a plunge in equity markets.

Wockhardt, based in Mumbai, can now raise a maximum 6.53 billion rupees ($166 million), 16 percent less than its target on Jan. 22, according to Bloomberg calculations.

A global sell-off in equities because of the U.S. subprime crisis has reduced or halted planned share sales in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Investor enthusiasm for Indian IPOs has been waning since billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power Ltd. garnered a record $189 billion of bids this month.

India’s benchmark stock market Sensitive Index has declined 7.4 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index has fallen 3.8 percent, since Reliance Power’s IPO closed on Jan. 18. The offer raised the maximum $3 billion sought after the IPO sold out in the first minute.

Subsequent IPOs from infrastructure firm KNR Constructions Ltd. and cable maker Cords Cable Industries Ltd. have only become fully subscribed on the closing day of their bids.

Emaar MGF Land Ltd.’s $1.8 billion initial share sale opens for subscriptions tomorrow amid slowing demand for the issues that are open. The firm controlled by the Middle East’s biggest real estate developer by market value, Emaar Properties PJSC, proposes to sell 102.6 million shares at 610 to 690 rupees apiece.

The sale, managed by Enam Securities Pvt. and Merrill Lynch & Co Inc. with five other banks, will close on Feb. 6.

Wockhardt Hospitals cut its offer price to 225 rupees to 260 rupees apiece from 280 rupees to 310 rupees before the opening of the offer today, the company said in an e-mailed statement, without giving a reason for the change.

The health-care provider, owned by the founder of Indian drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd., need funds to double its hospital chain in two years.

Sale arrangers include Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt., Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd., SBI Capital Markets Ltd. and ICICI Securities Ltd.