IFCI, the country&rsquo;s oldest development financial institution, seems to have turned the corner as it has paid dividends after a decade. While tough times, including defaults, are a thing of the past, the institution is still trying to find a new business model. In an interview, IFCI Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Atul Kumar Rai talks about his strategy and says he will try to keep the financial institution afloat without merging with another entity.

'We stand revived, merger not on our mind'

Business Standard

US-based venture capital (VC) firm Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) recently raised a $1.2-billion fund. It is one of the few large funds to be raised in recent times. Managing Partner Promod Haque says NVP took less than a month to raise the fund. The fund is almost double the size of its last fund of $650 million raised in 2006. Since then, the VC player has invested in nine companies in India.

'Our fund plan conforms to growth expectations'

Stock markets have turned around one year after the financial crisis intensified with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. But high net worth individuals (HNIs) are still wary of raising their exposure to equity. Nipun Mehta, executive director and head, SG Private Banking India, talks about the investment scenario with Sudeep Jain and Abhijit Lele.

'Growth is not getting translated into participation in markets'

IL&amp;FS Investment Managers, a subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&amp;FS), is close to raising a $700-million (around Rs 3,220 crore) infrastructure fund with Standard Chartered Bank. With this, the oldest (1989) and the largest private equity fund manager in the country will have $1 billion (around Rs 4,660 crore) of assets under management.

'Fund raising to become easier next year'

Stephen Jennings, chief executive officer of the Renaissance Group, speaks to Business Standard about the tie-up with Kotak Mahindra and why Indian companies will look at emerging markets rather than the West to acquire assets.

'70% of our deals don't involve western firms'

Investment banking shifted focus in 2009, as capital raising dominated over mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;As) advisory. US-based J P Morgan led this shift globally. Vedika Bhandarkar, managing director &amp; head of investment banking, tells how even in a supposedly bad year, the bank raised about Rs 1,00,000 crore.

'2009 was a good year, next will be brighter'

In the backdrop of the global financial crisis, credit rating agencies have faced criticism worldover. Regulations are now being strengthened to guard against such crises. Rating agency Standard &amp; Poor's (S&amp;P) is using the experience of working with the Indian rating agency, Crisil, a subsidiary of S&amp;P, to its advantage. Deven Sharma, president, Standard &amp; Poor's, spoke to Rajesh Bhayani how they are leveraging their Indian experience for global operations.

'Indian regulatory regime has brought us a world of good'

Among private players, HDFC Standard Life has the first registration number (101). It was also one of the two private sector companies that ended Life Insurance Corporation&rsquo;s 43-year-old monopoly in 2000. The company&rsquo;s Principal Officer and Executive Director Paresh Parasnis, who has been associated with the company since its inception, says the country&rsquo;s sixth-largest life insurer is focusing on increasing productivity, improving persistence and managing expense overruns.

'Knowledgeable investors do not look at profit or loss numbers'

ICICI Prudential has the lost the top slot in the private sector life insurance sweepstakes. In an interview, the company&rsquo;s Managing Director &amp; Chief Executive Officer V Vaidyanathan tells Sidhartha that the insurer will be back at the top by the end of the year. Besides, he expects the company to break even earlier than the 2012 target, due to cost cuts and efforts to increase revenue.

'Break-even will be sooner than expected'

Investors are hoping for another bountiful year in the equities segment, as amidst fears of a correction, the stock markets have jumped in recent days. ICICI Prudential Assets Management Company Deputy Managing Director Nilesh Shah speaks to Rajesh Bhayani on the outlook for the next year and how investors should approach it.

'Only miracles, bubbles can result in returns like 2009'

Since joining as Kohlberg Kravis Robert&rsquo;s (KKR) CEO and Country Head for India at the start of the year, Sanjay Nayar has been working on the private equity player&rsquo;s India strategy. In an interview, the former Citibank executive tells Business Standard that the firm&rsquo;s model will focus on India and on helping Indian entrepreneurs build world-class entities.

'India needs flexible pools of capital'

It&rsquo;s rare for a company chief to sign results of two competing entities in a span of one week. KR Kamath, now chairman and managing director of Punjab National Bank (PNB), announced the second-quarter results of Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank before moving to New Delhi for his new assignment where he declared PNB&rsquo;s results. Kamath shares his views on business environment and opportunities with Abhijit Lele.

'We plan to buy partner's stake in insurance JV'

Mahindra Finance, the non-banking finance arm of the Mahindra group, saw its net profit double in the second quarter. Recently, it also crossed the one million customer mark. In a conversation with Sudeep Jain, the company&rsquo;s managing director, Ramesh iyer, talks about their core commercial vehicles&rsquo; finance operation and the new lines of business the group plans to enter.

'Our focus will be semi-urban and rural markets'

ERGO entered India in 2007 through a general insurance joint venture with HDFC. It is currently finalising a life insurance partner. Andreas Kleiner, board member of ERGO International and responsible for Asia, talks to Shilpy Sinha about the group&rsquo;s plans for India.

'We hope to finalise life insurance partner soon'

Since moving to TVS Capital Funds three months earlier, Vice-Chairman &amp; Managing Director D Sundaram has been busy going through fresh investment proposals. In less than a week, TVS Shriram Growth Fund-I (TVC Cap manages it) has announced two investments. Last Wednesday, it announced an investment of Rs 65 crore in retailer Landmark. Today, the Rs 600-crore fund announced its intent to invest up to Rs 35 crore in Dusters Hospitality, in the facility management business.

'Valuations are a relative art... though manageable'

IT major Infosys Technologies' banking solutions arm Finacle, which currently enjoys a 65 per cent market share in the core banking segment, is looking at the financial inclusion frameworks laid down by the RBI, and the rural banking focus by governments in other countries as its next growth drivers. Finacle, which has 5,000 direct employees across six continents, says it sees good opportunity in the Islamic banking space as well.

'Financial inclusion, rural banking to drive growth'

L&amp;T Finance, the non-banking finance arm of Larsen &amp;Toubro, recently announced its entry into the mutual fund space by acquiring DBS Cholamandalam Asset Management. Senior Vice-President N Sivaraman, who heads L&amp;T Finance, speaks to Sudeep Jain about the firm&rsquo;s core asset financing business and how he plans to take the recently acquired AMC forward.

'We will tap semi-urban and rural areas for MF sales'

While other foreign banks are still shrinking their loan portfolio, Standard Chartered Bank says it is seeing a double-digit growth. In an interview, Neeraj Swaroop, Standard Chartered&rsquo;s chief executive officer for India and South Asia, tells Sudeep Jain &amp; Sidhartha that the bank intends to expand its offerings by adding equity fund-raising for Indian companies. The bank will, however, stay from small-ticket personal loans and acquisitions sans branches.

'We won't look at acquisition without branch network'

IDG Ventures India is a $150-million technology-focused early-stage venture capital (VC) fund which has opted for the co-investment route. Having invested in 10 companies over the last two years, IDG intends to invest another $60 million before tapping the market for raising fund next year. IDG Ventures Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Sethi tells Shilpy Sinha that he wants to rope in domestic investors for the proposed second fund.

'Valuations have turned attractive for VCs'

As the market is moving up, the life insurance industry is expecting a robust growth in premium collections. Two months after taking charge at the country&rsquo;s largest private sector player in the insurance industry, SBI Life, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer MN Rao shares his strategy with Shilpy Sinha and Sidhartha.

'We have no time frame in mind for listing'

Gurdev Singh Vedi, who took charge as Punjab &amp; Sind Bank's chairman and managing director last month, has a long list of things on agenda, starting with putting in place a core banking solution (CBS) that will also help the bank set up off-site automated teller machines (ATMs). In an interview, he tells Manojit Saha about the bank's plan for an initial public offering (IPO) next year.

Page 44 - Interviews