PE inflows plunge 65% to $1.81 bn

Mumbai: Private equity (PE) investments in India fell 65.4 per cent to $1.81 billion in July-September 2023 as compared to the year-ago period, according to an industry report. In the year-ago period, PE investment was $5.23 billion. The number of deals also declined steeply by 50.1 per cent to 232 from 465 deals in Q3 2022, according to the data collated by Refinitiv, which is a London Stock Exchange Group (LSG) business.

On a sequential basis, the number of deals fell 34.2 per cent from 353 in Q2 2023, and in value term it declined by 35.2 per cent from $2.79 billion. For the first nine months (January-September 2023), the Internet specific and computer software companies continued to attract maximum PE interest with $2.80 billion and $1.48 billion invested. But this is 63.2 per cent down from the year-ago period with the number of deals declining to 283 from 414 in the first nine month of 2022.

PE investment in computer software was down 74.9 per cent, financial services (down 79.9 per cent) and consumer-related companies (down 72.1 per cent) in the first nine months of 2023 as compared to the same period of 2022. However, PE investment in industries catering to industrial/ energy was up 30.8 per cent and semiconductor & electrical (up 64.2 per cent

Fundraising activity in the country saw 31 per cent decline compared to the year-ago period and amounted to $6 billion during the first nine months of 2023. The top 10 PE deals in the first nine months included Lenskart Solutions ($600 million), Ola Electric Mobility ($300 million), Serentica Renewables ($250 million), Perfios Software Solutions ($229.3 million), Kiranakart Technologies ($199.9million), among others, according to Refinitiv.