The year 2007 is clearly the year that saw the rise of private equity funds. According to those tracking the industry, $13 billion (which is approximately Rs 55,000 crore) was invested in Indian markets in 2007. Simply put, a relatively new segment of investors have entered the scene and have pumped in Rs 55,000 crore into Indian companies. Ask any investment banker, and he will call the year 2007 a watershed year as all mandates for fund raising were completed and he is on track to receive a hefty bonus. […]

A clutch of venture capital funds (VCFs), which have invested nearly $419 million in Indian information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms till date, are now looking to diversify their investments into IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) firms that generate revenues from the local markets. The move follows a sharp decline in revenues of the Indian IT sector as a result of the rising rupee, sub-prime turmoil and a slowdown in the US economy. The country�s leading IT companies, which have seen a drop in earnings due to the near 12 per cent appreciation of the rupee, have also to counter a possible drop in contracts from their US clients due to a slowdown in the world�s largest economy. As a change in strategy, VCFs are now looking to diversify into sectors such as consumer-based internet and mobile-technology companies, where revenues come from the local market. Venture capitalists are also looking for companies that are expanding geographically � those that are targeting non-US markets. Venture capitalists have pumped in more than $777million into India up to September 2007, according to the India Venture Capital report. About 54 per cent of all venture deals in India were for IT companies, the report said. […]