BENGALURU: Despite private equity/ venture capital investments in India recording a 51 per cent year-on-year slump in July, 2020, the stakeholders are seeing early green shoots in the funding sector with a lookout for companies that offer resilience to crisis as well as innovation.
According to Prashant Kumar, managing director of American private equity giant KKR's India arm, the COVID-19 has infact provided an opportunity for long term investments. Kumar added that KKR’s global investments during the first half of 2020 touched USD 30 billion when the world was reeling under the pandemic.
During a webinar organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM), Kumar said that some of the major investments during this period were in India’s digital platform Reliance Jio, an e-commerce firm in China among others.
KKR has pumped in USD 1.5 billion in Mukesh Ambani's Jio for a 2.3 per cent stake earlier. Unlike the recession in 2008, the investors now have a multi-pronged strategy and are showing keen interest in both COVID-proof as well as COVID-hit sectors. "Healthcare, e-commerce, education were some of the sectors where active interest was seen," said Kumar.