Recently, a fund manager with an exposure of $500 million in India, was busy entertaining representatives of a Danish pension fund and a Japanese delegation that were keen to invest in India.
Looking back, the fund manager remembers the days when investors would hang up the phone on him at the very mention of India.
Coming a full circle, today it is these big moneybags -- with expectations of returns crossing the 25 per cent mark -- that are courting most fund managers of India-specific funds. This enables them to be selective about their investors.
"We raise only up to 10 per cent of the fund from one limited partner and also do not have more than one limited partner from one city," said Rahul Bhasin, managing partner, Baring India.
Renuka Ramnath, managing director and chief executive officer, ICICI Ventures, remembers that two to three years ago it was difficult to even convince limited partners to do their due diligence on Indian firms.
"Today, limited partners are visiting India twice a year irrespective of whether a fund is raising capital or not. They just want to be on the radar and do not want to miss out in case someone does decide to launch a new fund," she said.
ICICI Ventures recently closed a $1 billion fund. Its limited partners are from all over the world -- the United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and even South Africa.
"Earlier, it would have taken almost two years to close a $500 million fund. Our recent $1 billion fund opened last September and was closed by March," said Ramnath.
