Private equity firms invested US $23.8 billion across 591 deals in 2017, making it the biggest year for PE investments in India, says a report.
According to deal tracker Venture Intelligence, the investment value is 39 per cent higher than the previous high of US $17.1 billion (recorded in 2015) and 55 per cent higher than US $15.4 billion invested during 2016.
In terms of number of deals the year 2017 saw 21 per cent less activity as compared to 2016 (731 deals), indicating large number of big-ticket transactions.
“The year witnessed 31 investment deals with size greater than US $200 million, aggregating to US $15.4 billion or 65 per cent of the total investments,” the report said.
These figures include venture capital investments, but exclude PE investments in real estate.
In terms of industries, IT/ ITeS companies accounted for 45 per cent of the value pie attracting US $10.7 billion worth investments across 325 transactions.
Flipkart received India’s largest ever PE investment of US $2.5 billion in a single round from Softbank and another US $1.4 billion from strategic investors Tencent, eBay and Microsoft.
Softbank also invested US $1.4 billion in mobile wallet and payments firm One97 Communications, which owns the Paytm brand.
On the back of its two mega bets (Flipkart and Paytm), Softbank emerged as the largest investor during the year with investments totaling over US $4 billion.
Other top investors include Canadian pension fund CPPIB with US $2 billion investments across five companies; while Warburg Pincus invested US $1.6 billion across nine companies, and KKR invested about US $680 million.
China’s Tencent emerged as a significant strategic investor in the Indian Internet and mobile sector with investment of US $1.1 billion across home grown leaders like Flipkart, Ola, Byjus Classes and Practo.
