Venture capital switches to India

Florian Gimbel reports on The Austrialian (on May 3rd 2006):

INTERNATIONAL venture capital groups are increasingly shifting focus from China to India after years of reduced exposure to the subcontinent, a move that underlines the pull of India's fast-growing market for internet and consumer wireless applications.

The head of the venture capital advisory practice at Ernst & Young, Gil Forer, said: "Since many of the Silicon Valley firms concluded their China strategy development last year, they will be able to devote more time to their India strategy. (US) east coast and European funds that have been more conservative about China than their Silicon Valley counterparts will likely initiate investment activity in India."

A partner at US-based WestBridge Capital Partners, Sumir Chadha, said: "A lot of core technology development has shifted to India in the last three or four years and the natural progression is to see teams of engineers leave the big firms to start their own product and IT-based companies focused predominantly on the Indian market."

Tags: startup, funding, software, entrepreneur, venture