Venture capitalists invested more than $400 million in India so far this year and the VC funding sector was all set to witness a positive growth in 2003, after significant decline in the previous two years, a top industry expert said in Bangalore on Friday.
The chairman of Indian Venture Capital Association, Saurabh Srivastava, said that over $400 million had already been invested in 2003 and that the figure was expected to go up to $650 million to $700 million for the entire year.
In 2001, India ranked as the third most active VC market in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan), with investments of $937.03 million, which was down 21.8 per cent, compared to the previous calendar year, he said.
New Delhi improved to the second place last year - after South Korea -- with $550 million, which was again a negative growth of 41.3 per cent over 2001.
"This year, portents (for the VC sector) are good," he told a venture capital summit, with the theme -- The Road Ahead -- organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
He said two dozen top VCs from the United States would visit India next month for about 10 days to explore possibilities of investing in Indian companies. "The US VCs now have an increasing appetite to invest in India," Srivastava said.