Mr Saxena is the co-founder of IPC and has led investments in numerous companies in the IT/telecom and life sciences including Amber Networks, ARM Holdings, Amgen, Alkermes, Genomics Collaborative, GovXCel, Transgenomic and Volterra.

The funds would come from overseas and around 10 per cent to 15 per cent from Indian investors. The team is in place with Mr Saxena looking after the operations out of US. "We have just finalised the documents and structure for the JV and should be operation by the second quarter of next year," he said.

"We will be looking at investing in companies which follow global accounting procedures, have transparency, have a focus on both export and Indian markets and are involved in higher value products," Mr Saxena said. Invesco tends to start companies it invests in and then actively participates in the company, he added.

The 50:50 JV with ILFS will involve an investment of around $10 million from each of the partner while other members will be putting in around $2 million. This fund will operate in India from three to four cities - Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Pune.

Mr Saxena said there will be around $12 trillion to $13 trillion available for investment from pension funds and insurance companies and around $1 trillion looking for people with ideas. "It is not inconceivable that India should be receiving a per cent of this flow of funds," he said.

Connectivity and convergence of voice and data are the main technology drivers and there will be a lot of opportunities for Indian companies offering components and systems in these areas. The key according to Mr Saxena was to create companies that make a difference and are customer focussed rather than make a killing with a stock market focus.

Firm chief plans biotech school at IIT-Mumbai
IPC president and managing partner Parag Saxena has proposed a new school of biotechnology at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai. A series of working drafts have been worked on and will be considered at a meeting at IIT-Mumbai on December 19. An IIT-Mumbai alumni, Mr Saxena said he would take personal initiative to mobilising funds for the proposed school, get world class teachers interested and look for industrial support for funding research projects. "This could take shape in two to three year's time," Mr Saxena said.