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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (9980)	12/9/1999 2:07:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

More players into Venture Capital arena By Our Special Correspondent BANGALORE, DEC. 8. If the large audience at Nasscom's Venture Capital India '99 seminar held in Bangalore on Monday is any indication, it would appear that a Silicon Valley would be repeated here with the Indian IT industry riding high on venture capital (VC). Today, there are more than 20 venture funds already in place in the country with a combined fund pool of Rs. 2,900 crores ($670 million) as of 1998. Of the total investment of Rs. 1,260 crores made by venture capital, close to a third (the maximum sectorally) has been made in the IT industry. More players like Reliance, GE Capital , and UTI Offshore are entering the VC arena. In his speech at the inauguration of the seminar, the Secretary in the newly created Ministry of Information Technology at the Centre, Mr. P. V. Jayakrishnan, announced that his Ministry was going to launch a brand equity fund of Rs. 100 crores in collaboration with ICICI. The Prime Minister will himself launch on December 10 the recently announced Rs. 100 crore VC fund to be led by SIDBI, IDBI and the industry. The Central Government has already modified several policies which will foster a VC environment. Issues such as limited liability partnership and enabling trading in unlisted shares through the OTCEI are being dealt with. The Ministry has also taken the initiative to develop synergy with successful Indian-origin IT professionals in California's Silicon Valley. A Business Development Centre is being set up at San Jose. The PM is also scheduled to meet some of the leading NRIs from Silicon Valley on January 13 next. There is a proposal to set up incubator type institutions which will provide basic readymade facilities for small start-ups and individuals at the seed stage to enable them to develop their ideas into production models. Mr. Dewang Mehta, President of Nasscom, hoped that India would make it to one of the top five global locations in the creation of technology ventures, leading to investments of over $2 billion by 2008. Nasscom has prepared a 20 point action plan to provide stronger thrust to the VC environment in India. To replicate the Silicon Valley phenomenon in India, Nasscom has signed an MoU with TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs). TIE is a Valley-based organisation of Indian entrepreneurs and professionals involved in networking, mentoring entrepreneurs and integration with mainstream society. Incidentally, the President of TIE, Mr. Kanwal Rekhi, has flown in from California with a contingent of 16 successful Valley entreprenuers, to take part in the Bangalore seminar. Mr. D. R. Mehta, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India, said the SEBI had set up an expert committee to provide suggestions for boosting VC environment. The report of this committee is expected soon. hinduonline.com