Private equity players in India focusing at hospitality and education sector
By Vipin Agnihotri
Private equity players in India are focusing at hospitality sector and education firms at this moment of time. Not so long ago, IT, manufacturing, banking and engineering were the preferred choice for private equity investors. But situated has changed in the last few months as "shallow sectors" such as hospitality, agriculture and media are gaining importance among bulge-bracket investors.
You may not believe at first but it’s true that even agriculture sector has pocketed $29 million by way of three separate deals. According to sources, agriculture-based research companies are attracting investors. On the other hand, in the energy sector, private equity investors have invested more than $250 million across 11 deals over the past nine months. In my opinion, power and power utility services are the most vibrant sub-segments of energy sector.
It has been noticed that hotel sector is attracting plenty of private equity investors. In terms of statistic, private equity investors have invested more than $25 million in hotels chains this year. According to experts, booming hospitality sector in India is seeing rising interest from both domestic and foreign players that are interested in investing in hotels.
The domestic education sector also stands to gain from the private equity investors. Because of booming economy and talent shortage, private equity investors expect the demand for services from such firms to pick up. Point to be noted here is that companies in the education sector normally give online tutoring services for customers abroad.
In some cases, they also tap the domestic market by setting up coaching centres and vocational training. Berggruen Holdings, a New-York based fund, which is interested in investing $300 million in India over the next couple of years, has identified education as one of its focus areas.
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