The global economy is projected to stay put at 3.2-3.3% growth in 2025, the same as the current year and what it had clocked in 2023, according to IMF. This calls for high fives as it means the concerns of a ‘hard landing’ may turn out to be just a red herring. But the escalation in geopolitical tensions in two major oil producing regions (Russia and Middle East) continues to hang as a Damocles’ sword.
Amidst this, the Indian juggernaut continues to gallop as the fastest growing major economy and is projected to grow at twice the global growth rate. The robust domestic economy is proving its resilience to even elevated crude oil prices and despite the flashpoint in the Gulf, public market benchmark indices are barely below their all-time peaks. Pundits have been talking about India being on a long-run bull run or an economic super-cycle.
While a whole host of companies are going public to capitalise on the buoyant sentiments, private capital via venture capital, private equity and private credit continues to unlock value in the startup ecosystem and growth stage ventures while also chasing mature companies that are already local and international champions such as such as Haldiram’s, enjoying tags worth billions of dollars.
Limited Partners (LPs) have been bullish about alternatives as an asset class with their total commitment for India focused funds crossing the $120 billion mark as of June 2024, of which around $80 billion is the dry powder waiting to be deployed, as per data compiled by VCCircle based on official statistics. And this does not capture global PE giants who invest big sums out of their regional and global investment vehicles. This shows the total sum available to be deployed in India Inc is around $100 billion or still higher.
This has been a result of hundreds of success stories in the country with PE-VC investors generating high returns, even beating the meteoric rise of the public markets, while also adding a touch of risk diversification that is not shaken by day to day sentiments, but anchored on visibility about disruption and long term growth prospects.
To deliberate on how the Indian alternative investment ecosystem is evolving and how can LPs collaborate with GPs and other stakeholders to generate super-sized returns from companies in the country, VCCircle presents the 16th edition of its flagship annual thought leadership and networking event for LPs, GPs and rainmakers in the deals ecosystem.