India’s Private Investing market has come of age. Investing in Private Equity, Venture Capital, Real Estate, Credit and Infrastructure has grown in a significant manner in the last decade.
Cumulative inflows into Indian private equity/venture capital space totalled USD ~230 billion in the period 2011-2021. India’s Public Equity Markets received only ~USD 110 billion in the same period. The last 5 years have been by far the best period for private assets in both investing as well as exits.
In 2021, India attracted ~USD 77 billion in PE/VC flows and saw ~USD 43 billion in Exits, reflecting the buzzing deal-making. Of course, India also created 44 new start-up unicorns in 2021, beating the United Kingdom to the fourth place.
We, of course, need to see the ‘valuation euphoria’ in the wake of tighter monetary policy and higher interest rates. We should expect some tempering of valuations and deal making. However, Arvind Chari, CIO Quantum Advisors, believes that given the presence of long-term investors like Sovereign Wealth Funds/Pension Funds, global PE giants, a larger pool of dedicated India funds and a better macro environment, the outlook for private investing is better than what prevailed in the previous boom/bust cycle of 2007-2014.
Praveen Kadle and his team at Prachetas Capital having seen and lived through both the cycles believes the opportunity to be broad-based and the eco-system to be developing well with enough pipeline to deploy capital into growth equity strategies.
The introduction of Infrastructure Trusts (InVITS) and Real Estate Trusts (ReiTS) have made investing into real assets a bit more easier. Ashwin Ramesh, Principal Primary Real Estate Advisors, though believes that it is Residential Real Estate which seems most exciting for a patient long-term investor.
