Lost cause

Till a couple of years ago, most private equity conferences in Mumbai were always crowded because India was one of the hottest investment destinations in Asia. But it is a measure of the country’s diminished charms that participation in the last two big conferences organised by Southeast Asian private equity organisations were distinctly low key. For one two-day conference, half the participants left soon after lunch. After one morning session, a fund manager was heard telling another, “If you don’t come, you have nothing to lose but the lunch or the cocktail in the evening.”