Indira IVF Hospital operates a chain of IVF centers across India. The company claims that it has facilitated more than 1.60 lakh IVF pregnancies. The center was founded by Dr Ajay Murdia in the year 1988. It is well known that IVF does give hope of having children to so many couples who cannot conceive via  the normal mode. In the last few years, there have been rising instances and even large PE funds have now taken a stake in Indira IVF Hospital. It has made a successful business model out of IVF. 

After getting interesting valuations in its recent round of PE funding, the Indira IVF Hospital had decided to go ahead with its IPO worth ₹3,500 crore. Just a few days ahead of the IPO, they opted to withdraw the IPO and look at a later date for the IPO. The reasons were, mix of interesting and amusing. Apparently, it was a recently released movie on the subject of IVF that raised the alarm bells at SEBI. The regulator felt that the film was largely based on the company and would act as publicity material for the company, something that is not allowed. After that, Indira IVF put off the IPO! 

Movies on IVF are quite common and “Joy” released on Netflix had become a hit. In Mar-25, Vikram Bhat, released his movie on IVF “Tumko Meri Kasam.” The problem for SEBI was that the movie was a biopic on Ajay Murdia and was timed too close to the IPO. The biopic of a promoter of a company cannot be just released ahead of the IPO, especially if promoter is a high-profile person and, in this case, even the director is a known name. While one can argue about reel life impacting real life, it was the timing that perhaps irked SEBI. However, the promoters of Indira IVF Hospital may not be exactly complaining as it gives them an escape route from the IPO, in such tough primary market conditions. But, there is a bigger point of debate! 

One question that, apparently, nobody has really raised is whether the name of the IVF hospital is too suggestive. Ajay Murdia has named the hospital on his wife, Indira. However, when you talk of IVF and infertility, the one name that automatically comes to your mind is that of Dr Indira Hinduja, the pioneer of IVF in India. One can believe that the name of Indira IVF Hospital is a tribute to the pioneer (something like Tesla), although that does sound far-fetched. More than the film, the question is whether the hospital is gaining mileage from the use of a high-profile name. Food to chew!