Sequoia Capital announces new team for India

Global private equity firm Sequoia Capital today said it has put in place a new management to replace the founding partners who resigned yesterday.

Abhay Pandey, GV Ravishankar, Mohit Bhatnagar, Shailendra Singh and VT Bharadwaj will be responsible for the management of its business in India, Sequoia Capital said in a statement.

Founder members of the private equity firm managing $1.4 billion assets in India -- Sumir Chadha, KP Balaraj and S K Jain and Sandeep Singhal -- quit leading to a transition in management level.

The original WestBridge Capital Partners founders, Sumir Chadha, K P Balaraj, S K Jain and Sandeep Singhal have resigned to form a firm devoted to public market investing in India, the statement said.

Chadha and Balaraj started WestBridge in 2000 when the venture business in India was virtually non-existent and were joined in 2001 by Jain and Singhal, it said.

The four are going to continue to represent the PE firm on the boards of a variety of private and public companies and hope to work with the team on future investment opportunities in areas that may overlap, it said.

The statement also said the new team of five deserves a lot of the credit and recognition for what has occurred at Sequoia Capital in India during the last few years.

"They have been involved with a majority of the companies in all of the Sequoia Capital funds and have worked closely as partners with the entrepreneurs of these portfolio companies," it said.

Pandey, Ravishankar, Bhatnagar, Singh and Bharadwaj have experience and expertise in early stage, venture, growth and public market investments and will continue their efforts to make the firm the investor of choice for entrepreneurs in India.

Sequoia Capital has invested in more than 60 companies, including Comviva (Bharti Telesoft), Cafe Coffee Day, Dr Lal Pathlabs, Fashion & You, Firstsource, Idea Cellular, Just Dial, Micromax, Quickheal and SKS Microfinance.

In India, Sequoia Capital operates from offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi.