Government has deferred the initial public offering of state-owned oil producer Oil India in view of reversal of fortunes on the stock market.

"Situation is not very conducive to issue any IPO. One would like to wait for some time," Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey told reporters.

OIL's initial offering of 2.64 crore equity shares was to hit the market on November 10, but the reversal of fortunes on the stock markets has led to a re-think on the timing.

"At present, it is not happening. Everybody is cautious about IPOs," he said, while refusing to say when the IPO has been rescheduled to.

Markets need to stabilise before the IPO can be considered, he said.

"We will work on the IPO timing in consultations with the bankers. Right now I cannot say anything on the new schedule," he said.

Government holds 98.13 per cent stake in OIL, which produces close to four million tonnes of crude oil a year.

Alongside the IPO, government is to sell 10 per cent of its current holdings in OIL to Indian Oil [Get Quote] Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.

Post-IPO and equity transfer, government shareholding in the company will come down to 78.43 per cent.

IOC would hold 4.45 per cent equity stake in the expanded equity base, while HPCL [Get Quote] and BPCL [Get Quote] would hold 2.23 per cent each. Public holding would be 12.66 per cent.

Officials said OIL had received all approvals for the IPO from market regulator SEBI and was ready to hit the market anytime.

"We are watching market conditions and onces they are favourable we will be in the market," an official said.

Due to turbulent market conditions, several IPOs were shelved earlier, including those by realty giant Emaar MGF, Wockhardt Hospital and SVEC Constructions.

State-run power firm NHPC's initial offering had also been deferred earlier this month.