PE/VC investments in India drop 19% to $26.4B in Jan-June

Private equity and venture capital funds' bets on India have declined 19 per cent year-on-year to $26.4 billion in January-June 2025 as against $32.4 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The investments were higher when compared with $23.8 billion in July-December 2024, according to a report by industry lobby grouping IVCA and consultancy firm EY.

In terms of number of transactions, there were 593 deals in January-June 2025, lower than the 704 in the year-ago period and 649 transactions in the second half of 2024.

"While early signals such as strong GST collections, the recent rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India, and the IPO pipeline are encouraging, the outlook is cautiously optimistic given the concerns on earnings growth and the US-India FTA discussions that are stretching timelines," the consultancy firm's partner Vivek Soni said.

He opined that the second half of 2025 could see higher investment activity on better earnings performance by companies and also on culmination of the India-US free trade agreement.

Pureplay PE/VC investments excluding the real estate and infrastructure sectors came at $18.3 billion, which was 3 per cent lower compared to $18.9 billion in the year-ago period, and 13 per cent higher compared to $16.2 billion in July-December 2024.

There were 60 large deals of $100 million and above during the reporting period, with the $1.5 billion buy of New Mountain Capital into Access Healthcare Services being the largest, the report said.

The six months saw $11.6 billion of exits by such funds, which was almost the same as the year-ago period, but 31 per cent down when compared to the $16.8 billion in second half of 2024.

PE and VC funds raised $8.4 billion across 54 funds during the six months, which was higher both on-year and also from the preceding half of 2024.