Somak Ghosh to join Motilal Oswal PE

Somak Ghosh has quit as group president (development banking), YES Bank, to join Motilal Oswal Private Equity Advisors, the private equity (PE) arm of leading broking firm Motilal Oswal Securities.

Sources privy to the development said Ghosh would join Motilal Oswal PE as co-chief executive next month. Currently, Vishal Tulsyan is chief executive, Motilal Oswal PE.

YES Bank confirmed Ghosh had quit the organisation.

Motilal Oswal Private Equity Advisors started operations in 2007, launching the Rs 500-crore India Business Excellence Fund (IBEF)-I. Currently, the PE firm is raising its second fund, IBEF-II, targeting a corpus of Rs 750 crore.

At YES Bank, Ghosh headed development and sustainable banking, inclusive and social banking, and government relationship management operations. He also led the bank’s agriculture and rural banking, food and agri strategic advisory, and research and microfinance segments. He helped launch YES Bank’s $200-million South Asia Clean Energy Fund, in collaboration with Global Environment Fund, USA. Ghosh was also part of the bank’s executive management.

It is learnt under Ghosh’s leadership, Motilal Oswal PE plans to launch sector-specific funds in the near future. Currently, India-focused PE firms face various challenges in raising new funds. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report on the Indian PE sector had stated, “Raising fresh capital has been a challenge for India-focused PE funds, as only a handful of these have delivered desired returns to limited partners in the past. The exuberance exhibited by some of the funds during 2007–08 means there are a limited number of funds chasing investment opportunities in India.”