PE investment down 23%: Study

Private equity (PE) companies invested $10.8 billion in India during 2008, down 23 per cent on year, according to a study by research services company Venture Intelligence.

“2008 was the first year since 2002 that private equity investments in India witnessed a year-on-year decline,” Arun Natarajan, founder & chief executive officer, Venture Intelligence. PE inflows into India have been significantly impacted by the global liquidity crisis and slump in Indian stock markets. Compared with 439 PE deals in 2007, there were only 399 transactions last year, the study said. Information technology and IT-enabled services was the pick of investors with the maximum number of PE deals at 107.