Private Equity firms invested a record $9.2 billion across 154 deals during the quarter ended September 2018, up 60 per cent compared to the $5.8 billion across 146 transactions in the same period last year.

With the highest ever quarterly investment, July-September quarter has already catapulted 2018 into the biggest year for PE investments in India. With $23.7 billion across 525 deals, the nine-month investments have already matched the previous 12-month high recorded in 2017. Calendar year 2017 was the biggest ever year for PE investments in India, recording $23.7 billion across 704 deals, according to data from Venture Intelligence. Compared to last year’s nine month period, investments are 29 per cent higher.

The latest quarter witnessed 22 PE investments worth $100 million or more, accounting for 79 per cent of the total investment value compared to 13 such transactions in Q3’17. Of these, 12 were larger than $200 million, against four such investments in the year ago period.

The biggest PE investment reported during Q3’18 was the $1.2 billion equity investment by ADIA and TPG - for a combined stake of 22 per cent - in UPL (formerly United Phosphorus). This was followed by two $1 billion investment in hotel chain Oyo, led by SoftBank Vision Fund and in Star Health Insurance by WestBridge Capital, Madison India, Rare Enterprises and other investors.

“International investor interest in Indian Internet and Mobile companies has shot up dramatically post the Walmart-Flipkart deal. At the same time, it is gratifying that investments in other industries - including in manufacturing, energy and engineering companies – is also quite strong. This lends confidence that 2018 will set a significantly new high for PE investments in the country, even if the nervousness in the public markets and global events begin to affect private markets in Q4,” said Arun Natarajan, founder of Venture Intelligence.