Investors drawn to emerging markets but fund-raising gets more competitive. In the changed scenario of Indian private equity, where institutions and individuals are busy with fund raising, the fund houses are exploring untapped markets. ICICI Venture (I-Ven), India’s largest PE firm, is in talks with a couple of Japanese investors such as major banks and insurance firms to raise money for its infrastructure fund, say sources. The names of the Japanese majors could not be ascertained. I-Ven’s infra fund, aiming at a $750-million (Rs 3,425 crore) corpus, was launched this year. Though Indian GPs (General Partners or fund managers) are busy with raising funds from traditional markets such as the US and Europe, it is rare for them to explore markets such as Japan. According to industry experts, total pension assets in Japan for 2009 were $3 trillion. Japanese institutions invested close to $20 billion in private equity funds in 2009. […]