The global economic downturn has cast its shadow on venture capital investments in India which have slumped 72 per cent to $117 million in the first 6 months of the current year.
Venture capital firms invested $117 million over 27 deals during the 6 months ending June 2009. This is lower compared to the first half of 2008 which had witnessed an investment of $413 million across 67 deals, according to a study by Venture Intelligence in partnership with the Global-India Venture Capital Association (GIVCA).
"While the uncertainty in global financial markets over last six months has been affecting VC investments in India as well, there are clear signs of revival over the last couple of months – especially in emerging markets like India," GIVCA Director Sudhir Sethi said.
Information Technology and IT-Enabled Services (IT & ITeS) companies continued to attract venture capital investors with 14 investments worth about $75 million in 6 months.
The investment in the IT & ITeS sector accounted for 63 per cent in value terms and over half of the total number of deals made in the first 6 months of this year, the report said.
"Within IT & ITeS, online services companies retained their status as the favorite sector accounting for over 57 per cent of the investments (by volume) within the industry during H1 2009," it said.