A private equity fund has raised globally $595 billion in 2019, less than what they raised in the preceding two years, media reported.  However, in 2019 fundraising was the third-highest ever, only surpassed by 2017 and 2018 when private funds generated $ 628 billion each. Many of the funds are raised their targeted corpus from their investors, however, fell from third-year i.e. 2,398 in 2017 to 1,790 in 2018 and 1,316 in 2019, indicating that investors are only willing to back select funds and showing an increasing average ticket size of a fund. In the year 2019 saw $393 billion in buyout deals and $224 billion in venture capital deals announced, compared to $493 billion and $271 billion, respectively in 2018. ‘This was boosted in part by sky-high valuations, which saw the average buyout deal size hit a 10-year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems keen to present a budget that goes beyond incrementalism and gradualism. He held a series of meetings with Indian Inc, economists and experts on the Union Budget for 2020-21. ‘He was open to criticism and heard out suggestions and seems keen to present a budget that goes beyond incrementalism and gradualism,’ media reported. The Modi government seems to be getting ready to roll out a series of bold initiatives in the Union Budget. The PM has held as many as 12 meetings with sectoral experts and is investing a lot of time in these interactions stretching up to 2 hours as happened at the Niti Aayog, Amit Shah was also present in the meeting. He has held as many as 12 meetings so far with groups of industrialists and experts. This pre-Budget exercise is probably is the most ex

Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd (CAMS), a registrar and transfer agent serving 16 mutual funds in India, on Thursday, filed the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for its upcoming initial share sale. The initial public offer (IPO), a pure offer for sale, would see its promoter global private equity (PE) investor Warburg Pincus LlC’s investment vehicle Great Terrain Investment Ltd, along with other shareholders such as NSE Investments Ltd, a unit of the National Stock Exchange Ltd; Acsys Investments Pvt Ltd; India’s largest private mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC) and HDB Employee Welfare Trust, offload 12.16 million shares. A portion of 1.82 lakh shares is reserved for the employees at CAMS. While Warburg Pincus Llc holds the largest stake of 43.53 per cent in the Chenna

Snapdeal has plans to add another 5,000 manufacturer sellers on its platform in 2020. It expects most of these manufacturers to join from India’s production hubs such as Meerut, Ludhiana, Tirupur, Jaipur, Panipat, Surat and Rajkot. From the last year, Snapdeal has started to sell daily use products like steel and copper utensils, kitchen gadgets and fashion accessories bypassing the traditional structure of selling through wholesalers and retailers. The fastest growth, especially in the non-metro centres, has allowed these manufacturers to tap a new set of always-connected customers, which traditional retail structures cannot capture. Direct sales to consumers translate into higher margins for producers, as multiple links in the retail chain are replaced by the platform. Other savings that accrue to the produce

Zomato has raised $150 million from investor Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate, at a valuation of $3 billion for the food delivery startup. The top shareholder Info Edge (India) Ltd said that after the funding its stake will drop to about 25.13 per cent. It had a 26.38 per cent stake as of March last year. The fund infusion comes as Zomato pushes for a bigger market share in the highly competitive Indian food delivery space in a race with rivals such as Tencent-backed Swiggy and UberEats.The capital is part of a larger $500 million fundraising that is likely to close in the next two months, media reported. The Gurugram-based restaurant aggregator recorded a loss of $294 million in the year to March compared with a loss of $12 million a year earlier as it burned more cash in its Indian delivery business to grab

Gold and silver prices India today extended their recent losses, tracking a decline in global rates. On MCX, February gold futures prices fell 0.38 per cent to Rs 39,680 per 10 gram, declining for the third day in a row. In three days, gold has lost nearly Rs 1,000 per 10 gram. Silver futures on MCX also fell 0.34 per cent to Rs 46,419. Gold prices in India had surged to a record high of Rs 41,293 per 10 gram. In global markets, gold prices declined today as an apparent easing in US-Iran tensions boosted investors' appetite for riskier assets. Gold rates fell to $1,551, after a steep decline in the previous session. Reflecting investor sentiment, the holdings SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.5 per cent to 882.12 tonnes on Thursday. Among other precious metals, silver

Apple Inc. shares raise high after the company said customers spent a record amount in its App Store during the final days of the holiday season. App Store spending totalled $1.4 billion between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, up 16 per cent from the same period in last year. The company’s shares rose as much as 1.6 per cent, pushing its gains since the end of 2018 to 92 per cent. The App Store data are more evidence that Apple’s services expansion is not directly linked to iPhone sales, supporting his argument that the company’s shares should trade at a higher price-to-earnings multiple. Apple said App Store spending on the first day of 2020 reached $386 million, a single-day record and increase 20 per cent from last year. Apple started to go all-in on services. Apple has launched services of gaming

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has revealed that Uttar Pradesh accounted for the maximum number of economic offences in 2018. While the state recorded 22,822 cases of economic offences, Rajasthan was a close second with 21,309 such cases. Maharashtra reported 14,854 cases of economic offences and Telangana and Bihar saw 10,390 and 9,209 such cases respectively. The data comes at a time when India’s probe agencies the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are investigating some crucial cases pertaining to economic offences, including the Rs 14,356 crore Punjab National Bank scam, media reported. Countrywide, 1,56,268 cases of economic offences were recorded in 2018, higher than 143,524 such cases reported in 2017, according to the data. In 2016, such crimes totalled 148,972. I