A PE deluge continues to drive up the deal street as well as India’s foreign direct investment ranking. Breaking all previous records, private equity firms invested a record $11.3 billion in the country in the half year ended June 30, 2017, with $5.9 billion getting deployed during the quarter through March across 124 deals, as foreign capital backed compelling themes in sectors as diverse as healthcare, manufacturing, insurance and business process outsourcing. This is in stark contrast to early-stage venture investments that have dropped to $275 million across 78 deals during April-June, making it the weakest quarter for VC fund investments in the past years. In the first half of 2016, global and domestic PE funds invested $7.4 billion in 335 companies. The previous record was the $10 billion of investments that flowed in during the second half of vintage 2007, when the equity markets world over were at their peak. For the quarter ended June 30, 2017, the investment of $5.4 billion was 62% higher than the year-earlier period, but 9% lower than the immediate previous quarter. PE managers say the macroeconomic triggers at play are very encouraging for investment. Political will is significantly higher and there are efforts to provide the right kind of stimulus, which will have multiplier effects, especially for private capital providers.

(Economic Times)