Private equity and venture capital investments in India till July this calender year crossed $16.9 billion, a 45 per cent rise from the year-ago period.

Investments in July alone stood at $1.5 billion, across 63 deals, 23 per cent higher in value than July 2017. There were 11 exits during the month at $376 million.

This included a $100-million plus deal each in the financial services and pharma sectors, according to EY’s PE monthly Deal Tracker.

“Notwithstanding headwinds at the global and the domestic level, Indian PE and VC investment activity has maintained a steady run rate so far, clocking an average of $2 billion worth of investments per month in 2018...it appears we are well on track to witness another record year for PE and VC investments in India,” said Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader, Private Equity Services, EY.

Deal volume rises 50%

In terms of deal volume, investment activity rose 50 per cent to 63 deals in July, compared with 42 in July 2017.

Breaking away from recent trends, July 2018 recorded fewer large-size deals.

There were three deals of less than $100 million (cumulatively worth $402 million) in July, accounting for only 26 per cent of total investments as against a 65 per cent share in June 2018.

The fewer large deals in July is no indication of a trend, as there are many mega deals in the works, the most prominent being the recently-announced $4.2-billion acquisition of Arysta LifeScience, an agrochemicals company by UPL.

TPG was the most active PE investor during the month, announcing four deals, including a $105-million investment in Sai Life Sciences for a 35 per cent stake, a $40-million investment in e-commerce platform Livespace and co-investments with a group of other investors in online ticketing platform Bookmyshow and an NBFC, Five Star Business Finance.

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