Foreign venture capital investors (FVCI) waiting for an RBI approval for the past few weeks may finally get the nod to go ahead. The central bank is likely to start the process of approving pending FVCI applications. More than 50 applications from foreign venture funds are currently pending with RBI. However, venture investors eyeing the real estate sector may still have to wait. Of the 50 applications pending, at least 21 relate to realty. But the High-Level Co-ordination Committee on Financial Markets seems to be favourably inclined to other sectors. These applications have been lying with the RBI, despite Sebi vetting these as per the FVCI regulations. Sebi had raised this issue at a meeting recently. […]

At a time the global economy is slowing and investors are shying away from equity markets, the Indian infrastructure sector contines to attract global equity funds. India-specific infrastructure funds worth over Rs 30,000 crore are in various stages of being raised. Important among them include a Rs 12,000-crore fund from ICICI ventures, a Rs 8,000-crore fund from Macquarie Capital Group, the SBI and International Finance Corporation (IFC), and a Rs 4,000-crore fund from Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd. In this calender year, India-focussed infrastructure funds of around Rs 10,000 crore have been raised to date. These include an over Rs 4,900-crore fund from 3i capital, Rs 2,000 crore offerings by Citigroup and Rs 800 crore raised by AXIS PE. […]