The global economic slowdown cast its shadow on flow of investment into various sectors in calendar 2012.
Equity firms invested $8.85 billion in over 406 deals in the country in 2012. Compare this with $10.38 billion in 483 deals in the previous year, showing a decline of 14.7 per cent.
With 162 investments worth $3.24 billion, information technology and IT-enabled services companies topped in terms of both investment value and volume during 2012.
The last quarter of the year saw a significant decline in investments. The October-December period witnessed deals worth $1 billion in 82 deals, which was down by over 32 per cent from $1.50 billion in 121 deals.
The annual analysis by Venture Intelligence, a research services firm with a focus on private sector transactions, included venture capital investments but excluded private equity investments in real estate.
The total investments by PE firms in the past five years are put at $41.4 billion in 2,036 transactions.
BPO sector dominates
It was the business process outsourcing sector that hogged the limelight.
The two largest PE investments of 2012 were in this sector. JP Morgan unit One Equity Partners bought medical transcription specialist M*Modal (formerly CBay Systems) for $1.1 billion. Bain Capital and GIC invested $1 billion in Genpact by buying out the stake of existing PE investors General Atlantic and Oak Hill.
The next largest investment was Morgan Stanley’s $210.5 million commitment to Continnum Wind Energy, a Singapore-headquartered firm developing wind assets in India’s Kutch region.
The $150 million fourth round investment raised by e-commerce leader Flipkart was the next largest after the two mega BPO deals in the IT industry.