The real estate sector has hogged the limelight among preferred investment avenues for a host of venture capital funds (VCFs) and foreign venture capital investors (FVCI) during the last fiscal. Among various sectors, including IT and telecom, real estate alone attracted 20% of the total investments made by both VCFs and FVCIs during last fiscal.
Of the overall investments of Rs 103,470 crore in nine different categories, real estate alone attracted over Rs 20,000 crore investments during the last fiscal, followed by the service sector (Rs 9,350 crore), according to data available with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
As per the data, there has been a sharp increase in investments from both the segments of investors. From the first quarter?s (ended June 30, 2007) investment of Rs 2,788 crore, the sector received a whopping investment of Rs 7,285 crore in the last quarter (ended March 31, 2008), thereby taking the cumulative investment to over Rs 20,000 crore during the financial year.
IT, considered to be a hot favourite with the investors till a year ago, lost its sheen and ended up in third place after the services sector, the data pointed out.
However, this sector witnessed a marked increased in investments quarter after quarter (from Rs 1,695 crore in June 2007 to Rs 2,260 crore during March 31, 2008 quarter).
Among the two, venture capital funds were found to be more aggressive than foreign venture capital investors in investing into the real estate sector. Of the total Rs 20,068-crore investments between the two, VCFs alone invested close to Rs 13,295 crore, the data showed.
Meanwhile, the cumulative quarterly investments from VCFs and FVCIs have gone up sizably from Rs 20,310 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2007 to Rs 31,662 crore during the fourth quarter of last fiscal.