Even if covering India myself and going often, I wait for this report every year.
Bain & Company's India Private Equity Report is the gold standard for an overview, insights, and data of PE in India. If you want to read all of it, you can find it here.
Here are my key takeaways and 5 charts that capture the essence.
PE in India had an excellent 2018
Strong investment momentum and an increasing amount of control deals
Exits hit a record high, even if excluding the USD 16bn sale of Flipkart to Amazon 2018 is still the highest on record
Returns have been strong across sectors, but especially in Consumer technology, Enterprise technology, and Financials
More fund managers and an increasing appreciation of the importance of value creation
Good fundraising and ample but not too much dry powder
Even if competition is intense and multiples are high this shows the strong momentum of PE in India and the maturing of the industry. Good reasons for investors to remain positive - something also noted in this post.
1: Continued investment momentum
2: Increasing proportion of control and significant minority
3: Good level of dry powder - but not too much to worry
4: More exits - importantly both by value and by number
5: Strong investor returns
Some readers may have noted the differences in metrics between various posts and reports. Without getting into the problem of data quality, which will be the subject of a future post, this is explained by different sources, different dates, and a lack of consensus on definitions of Private Markets, Private Equity, Venture Capital etc. Importantly, none are wrong but as with any data it should be viewed with care.
Stay illiquid!
Kasper
Sources: Bain & Company 2019.