2014: Private equity investments reach USD 11 bln in India, mainly driven by ecommerce

To a large extent, this surge was driven by the increased interest in ecommerce, which has seen investments of over USD 2.47 billion in 48 deals as against USD 553 million in 2013 (in 36 deals). In 2013, private equity investments stood at USD 9.78 billion by way of 469 deals.

Inclusive of ecommerce, the information technology and IT-enabled services (IT/ITeS) sector attracted USD 4.82 billion in private equity investments, more than double the value registered in 2013. During the period under review, the financial services sector attracted USD 1.77 billion of private equity investments.

Ecommerce is expected to continue to generate interest in 2015. Private equity investors are also going to be watching the impact of key reforms such as the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax regime. However, there are some concerns about the ability of the government to speed up reforms and this would be key to the activity levels in 2015, the report concludes.