India hot-spot market for PE, VC investments in startups: Industry official

India is a significant market for venture capitalists and private equities for placing investments in start-ups, a senior industry official said on Tuesday.

"We see an average of $1 billion a year being invested in Indian startups by Singapore-based venture capitalists (VCs) and (private equities) PEs," said Jeffrey Chi, chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association.

India accounts for over 10 per cent of Singapore's VC and PE investments totalling $9.6 billion for four markets.

Noting that India represents a significant market for PE/VC managers, Chi said he sees a significant growth in VC and PE investments in growing number of Indian start-ups.

According to data compiled by the association, in 2016, Singapore-based PEs invested $457 million and VCs $569 million.

As of August this year, the PEs' investment was $163 million and VCs' $323 million.

"It is too early to tell how 2016 might end up. Looking at the numbers, I expect a slight decline from last year," Chi said.

He said though deals were happening between China and India, Chinese PE/VC investors were still in the early stage of placing investments in Indian starts up.

But the Indian success stories, such as Flipkart, builds confidence among PE and VC investors, he added.

Overall, South Asia companies received $7 billion of PE and $9 billion of VC investments in 2015 from across the world. Bulk of this was for India, Chi said.

As of August this year, the region received $3 billion each from PEs and VCs, according to data compiled by the association.