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The April to June period saw investments worth $4.29 billion in the country from private equity (PE) investors across 135 deals, 35 per cent higher than January to March period of 2015 and 36 per cent higher than the same period of previous year.
PwC MoneyTree India report, a quarterly study of PE investment activity based on data provided by Venture Intelligence, stated the June quarter saw investments worth $3.18 billion in 172 deals.
Together, the March and June quarters made the first half of the year the best in the history of PE investments in India, totalling $7.5 billion.
In the June quarter, the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector made a comeback to the top slot with investment, worth $1.8 billion in 85 deals, up 76 per cent from the previous quarter, and over 2.5 times from the same period in the previous year. Sandeep Ladda, leader — technology, PwC India, said this trend was expected to continue with more firms investing in newer technologies.
Customer experience had been the key to success in the growth of internet businesses and they expected to see significant product investment from companies in improving the customer experience and consumer engagement, he added.
Sanjeev Krishan, leader, private equity, PwC India, said, “We expect the buoyancy exhibited in the first half of 2015 to continue in the second half — in the short term, deal activity in e-commerce, health care, IT and life sciences is expected to continue; the core and infrastructure sector may see some transactions, too.”
Health care and life sciences attracted investments worth $827 million, more than double the figure in the March quarter of 2015, and 46 per cent more than the June quarter of 2014.
Late-stage investments received an investment value of $1.6 billion, followed by public market investments that attracted $938 million.
Mumbai made a comeback to the top slot with regard to PE investments in this quarter with an investment of $2 billion from 28 deals. The June quarter was a ‘super exit’ one as it saw the largest chunk of exits amounting to $3.6 billion in 50 deals.
This is more than twice the previous quarter and three times over the same period last year.
Q1of 2015 saw exits worth $1.53 billion in 50 deals whereas exit value of Q2 2014 was $1.24 billion with 61 deals.
The IT sector has outshined in exits as well seeing $1.93 billion in 13 exits while the BFSI sector has seen exits worth $437 million in just four deals.
Strategic sales has continued to be the preferred exit route, with $1.55 billion worth of exits in 11 deals while public market sales witnessed exits worth $977 million.
