Introduction

India Limited Partners Summit 2017
Alternative Investment Funds in Asia: Finding the silver lining in the emerging markets

With a population of over 1.3 billion and almost two-third of it below 35 years, India is a young market with an unmatched potential for growth and consumption. Add to this the government’s commitment to keeping doors open for foreign investors and consistently working towards making India an attractive place for doing business.

This when juxtaposed with the uncertainty in the world order post Donald Trump's conservative agenda in the US and Britain's decision to exit Europe, and the slowing down of Chinese economy in Asia, makes India look like one of the most attractive destinations globally to make future bets.

What is, however, the sentiment about India on the ground? Are global investors really kicked about the India opportunity? Are they convinced about the strength of the Indian economy and do they believe in its growth and consumption potential?

These and many other pressing issues will be discussed at the India Limited Partners Summit 2017. Presented by News Corp VCCircle, the summit will see India’s leading private equity funds (general partners or GPs), top global and Indian limited partners (LPs), and other major players in the private equity ecosystem gather under one roof to brainstorm the weightiest issues facing the fund managers and their investors in the region.

Over the past seven years, the summit has been attended by more than 300 speakers and 2,100 participants

Key topics for discussion:
  •  India as the silver lining in Asia – What do LPs expect in terms of policy reforms?
  •  Mapping India’s macro and micro business environment
  •  What can GPs do to position the India story better?
  •  Selling the alternate investments story to domestic investors
  •  LPs view on “Debutant fund managers”
  •  Co-investment strategies and platform deals – How different is the Indian market vs Asia
  •  Indian VCs and deployment dilemma
  •  Are Private Equity players disguising as the new mid- to late-stage VCs?
  •  Exits and the dollar conundrum – Best practices for hedging the IRR risk
  •  Buyouts and control deals – Indian promoters’ ideology and key trends

Block your calendar to join us for India's premier alternative investments conference that will identify global and local trends for Asia-focussed investors.


Agenda

Day - I

9:30am – 09.45am
Welcome Address by Jonathan Wright - Managing Director International, Dow Jones

09:45am – 10:00am
Keynote Address by Kopin Tan - Head, Barrons APAC

10:00am – 10:50am
Keynote Panel: Rising global uncertainty – Is it an opportunity for India to pitch itself as a consistent & a growing market for investments?
Brexit in Europe, Donald Trump’s conservative agenda in the US and the slowing Chinese economy present a unique opportunity for India to position itself as a market with a huge untapped potential, and a stable macro environment, both politically as well as economically. The Modi government at the Centre has taken some key initiatives, such as Make in India, GST, higher FDI in key sectors, to usher in structural reforms in the economy. The government’s push towards a digital economy and its efforts to address the much ignored population on the periphery of consumption is likely to bring in rewards in the long-term. In the short-term, these initiatives have yet to show any results. How does the global investing community look at India in the backdrop of these global and local issues?

Sudhir Sethi - Founder Chairman & MD, IDG Ventures India
Gopal Srinivasan - Chairman and MD, TVS Capital Funds
Archana Hingorani - CEO & Executive Director, IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd
Prashant Purker - MD & CEO, ICICI Venture
Rahul Bhasin - Managing Partner, Baring Private Equity Partners India
Simon Hopkins - CEO, Milltrust International Group (Moderator)

10:50am – 11:05am
Networking Break

11:05am – 11:50 am
Panel: Mapping the “Macro” to “Micro” business environment
The Union budget presented on February, though, was primarily focussed on empowering rural consumers; it had some welcome announcements for the investing community, too. For instance, the doing away of double taxation for LPs or investors redeeming their investments from India and no taxation in case an LP sells stake in an India fund to another LP, among few other such moves, do spell good news for the investing community. But are these enough to energise the alternative investments market in India? The panel will decipher what the budget means for those eyeing India as an investment destination as well as where it places the economy in comparison with other Asian countries such as China, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Kanwal Rekhi - Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners
Saugata Bhattacharya - Senior VP - Business & Chief Economist, Axis Bank
Krishnava Dutt - Managing Partner, Argus Partners
Sujan Hajra - Chief Economist, Executive Director, Institutional Equity, Anand Rathi Securities
Girish Vanvari - National Head of Tax, KPMG in India (Moderator)

11:50am – 12:30pm
Fireside chat: Understanding the changing dynamics of a LP-GP relationship
It is needless to say that the relationship and roles that LPs and GPs play in a deal have evolved during the last decade. What are these changes and how do they impact the market? Have these changes been a boon or bane for entrepreneurs?

Anita Marangoly George - Managing Director, South Asia, CDPQ    
Renuka Ramnath - Founder, CEO and MD, Multiples Alternate Asset Management
Vishal Bali - Chairman, Medwell Ventures (Moderator)

12:30pm – 1:00pm
Special address by Hemant G Contractor - Chairman, PFRDA

1:00pm – 2:00pm
Networking Lunch

2:00pm – 2:45pm
Panel: What can GPs do to position the India story better?
As the fastest-growing major economy, India has maintained some credibility in the eyes of investors looking at emerging markets. But is that enough? How do LPs read the India vs other emerging markets story? How is country allocations changing and why? What can Indian GPs do to attract more LP interest? How do Indian GPs differ from peers in the emerging markets and what do they need to do catch the LPs’ eye? Do they need to show sharper and disciplined investment strategy for a sector, or is it execution and better portfolio choice that wins the hearts and LP cheques?

Kay Mok Ku - Partner, Gobi Management (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Arvind Kodikal - Sr. Investment Officer, Triodos Investment Management BV,
Bala Deshpande - Senior MD, NEA    
Bala Naidu - Managing Partner, Argha Capital LLP
Mukul Gulati - Managing Partner, Zephyr Peacock (Moderator)

2:45pm – 3:30pm
Panel: Selling the alternative investments story to Domestic Investors
As a growing number of foreign investors enter India, what are the domestic investors thinking? We are yet to see enough big-ticket investments happening and this panel will try to decipher ways of selling the AIF story to domestic investors, especially cash-rich companies as the investor pool, so far, has been limited to big players only including Reliance Industries, Infosys, Wipro and so on. What’s stopping private NPS fund managers from betting on AIFs after the government allowed such investments this year? Is 2% of NPS corpus for AIFs too low? What are the norms globally and what needs to be done?

Vishal Tulsiyan - CEO and MD, Motilal Oswal Private Equity
Shahzad Madon - Head PMS & Alternative Assets, Reliance Capital Asset Management
D Muthukumaran - CEO, Adiya Birla Private Equity
Gaurav Kapoor - Senior Private Sector Development Adviser, DFID
Rahul Khanna - Managing Partner, Trifecta Capital

3:30pm – 3:45pm
Networking & Coffee Break

3:45pm – 3:55pm
Report Release by KPMG on ‘Private Equity Review – 2016’

3:55pm – 4:40pm
Panel: Sunrise sectors from a private equity lens - What’s in store for sector agnostic and sector focussed infra funds

Which sectors have turned out the best performance in terms of real exits for LPs and GPs? Which sectors look most rosy for 2017 and beyond?  How about investment strategy: How do LPs differentiate between a sector-agnostic and focused sector fund? Is the latter an easy sell? Why are special situation funds gaining traction and does it say something about the lack of activity or boldness among asset reconstruction firms or the regulatory norm for such assets?

While initially lot of money was committed to infrastructure funds, that side has seen some hold-up. PEs at large had also seen lot of interest but SEBI data show VCs have recorded unprecedented LP commitment in Q3. Do LPs see more attractiveness for VC investments in India or PE?

The biggest PE deals to date have been to the order of $1-2 billion. M&As, however, had broken the multi-billion-dollar threshold several times in the past. Is there a scope for such large buyouts in the near to medium term? Which sectors could see such activity?

The size problem: Barring infrastructure funds, most large fund houses operate with assets of $500-700 million. Does this turn off large LPs who do not want to bet small sums of $50-100 million with one GP as it increases the overhead of managing small portfolio accounts? Some large sector-agnostic funds in the good old days even decided to draw a small quantum of money despite having commitment for larger funds. Indeed, even large firms have bridled their ambitions for larger funds. Does it again reflect a deployment problem for PEs at large?

Anand Narayan - Managing Director, Creador Advisors India Pvt Ltd
M.K Sinha - Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, IDFC Alternatives
Manish Kejriwal - Managing Partner, Kedaara Capital Advisors LLP
Michael Liu - Senior Vice President, Portfolio Advisors
Suresh Goyal - ED & India Head - Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, Macquarie Funds Group
Harsh Shah - Chief Financial Officer, Sterlite Power
Vivek Soni - Partner - Private Equity Group, KPMG (Moderator)

5:45pm - 6:00pm
Awards Registration

6:00 pm onwards
VCCircle Awards 2017
Followed by cocktail & dinner

Day - II

10:15am – 11:00am
Panel: Exit Trends 2017: The Road Ahead
Private equity investors unlocked $6.8 billion worth of investments across 239 exits in 2016 and though total number of exit deals fell from 2015, the value unlocked was higher indicating large deal sizes, increasing the deal value by 17% compared to the same period the year before. Also, exits through M&A increased more than 20 times to $3.6 billion in 2016 from 2015 (highest in the last five years). While the PE industry in India is optimistic that this positive trend will continue and show LPs that market sanguinity should translate into good market returns, it may have to consider working around unique challenges that may arise. Our expert panel will dissect how the exit market in India is evolving and what does this mean for 2017 and beyond. It will explore:

  • What are the prospects for VC exits?
  • Which exit routes delivered in 2016 and which failed?
  • Has the emergence of control buyouts really created more viable exit routes?
  • Is there scope of secondary exits evolving in India soon?
  • Exits and the dollar conundrum – What are the best practices for hedging the IRR risk ?

Rishi Kohli - MD, Monsoon Capital
Shashank Singh - Partner & India Head, Apax Partners
Mathew Cyriac - Florintree Advisors
Dhiraj Poddar - Country Head, India, TA Associates
Sudhir Variyar - Managing Director, Multiples Alternate Asset Management Pvt Ltd
Bill Spindle - South Asia Bureau Chief, WSJ (Moderator)

11:00am – 11:45am
Panel: Co-investment strategies and platform deals – How different is the Indian market?
Blind pool, co-investments or platforms: Which strategy has worked best in India and why? What are the early lessons from platform deals where large LPs form JVs with GPs? What are the pitfalls of such active co-investment strategy? Given the time, energy and resources required to be deployed for a platform deal; does it shake up the economics of returns for LPs? Why there are less LP co-investments in India as compared to other markets and is it a natural thing to expect for it to gain traction? How should LPs prepare themselves?

Neeraj Bharadwaj - MD, The Carlyle Group
Dhanpal Jhaveri - Managing Partner, Everstone Capital
Promeet Ghosh -  MD, Temasek Holdings Advisors
Munish Dayal - Partner, Baring Private Equity Partners
Prashant Purker - MD & CEO, ICICI Venture
Siddharth Shah - Partner, Khaitan & Co (Moderator)    

11:45am - 12:00pm
Networking Break

12:00pm – 12:45pm
Fireside chat: Buyouts and control deals – Indian promoter’s ideology and key trends
The Indian market is still nascent for buyouts, but lately more control deals are happening. Is there a fundamental shift seen in the promoter ideology or are these one-off examples?

With rising expectations from the Indian economy, political stability and industrial consolidation, more global buyout companies are strengthening their focus here. Many family-run businesses are realising the value of having an international partner to expand. All this is creating a huge opportunity for buyouts. Several questions arise out of this trend – do we have enough mid- to large-size transactions to create a market? Will valuations be feasible for PEs? Which sectors will see more opportunities and what will be the role of local partners to make such deals happen? This session will focus on answering these questions to evaluate how sustainable is the Indian buyout opportunity.

Anuj Ranjan - Managing Partner- Middle East & South Asia, Brookfield Asset Management
Parth Gandhi - MD, AION Global
Mathew Cyriac - Florintree Advisors (Moderator)

12:45pm – 02:00pm
Networking Lunch

02:00pm – 02:45pm
Panel: Indian VCs and deployment dilemma
Do Indian VCs have a deployment problem? The surge in value investments in startups in 2015 was led by e-commerce and consumer Internet. Now that the proverbial bubble has burst and startup valuation at large has moderated, how are VCs going to deploy the multi-billion-dollar dry powder, which is piling up with new GPs coming to play? What are the new domains which can suck in hordes of cash without fuelling another round of mindless cash burn? Is India now waiting for a consolidation among VCs as was witnessed in the PE domain in the past five years where several GPs ended up (and continue) managing zombie funds?

Amit Anand - MD, Jungle Ventures
Niren Shah - MD, Norwest Venture Partner
Vikram Gupta - Managing Partner, Ivycap Ventures
Fakhri  Ahmadov - CEO & Managing Director, Ahmadoff & Company
Sanjay Nath - Managing Partner, Blume Ventures (Moderator)

02:45pm – 03:30pm
Panel: Are Private Equity players disguising as the new mid- to late-stage VCs?
In 2015 and partly in 2016, hedge funds, PEs and growth equity investors have been eating up the mid- to late-stage VC investment space. In fact, lately some PEs have also nibbled in early-stage VC type of deals. How do LPs view such a strategy? Is that likely to continue in the next year or so or is the market expected to fall back to the conventional angel-VC-PE cycle of investments? What does it mean for startup valuations?

Nikhil Khattau - Managing Director, Mayfield
John Dougery - Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners
Pramod Ahuja - Partner, Tata Capital Growth Fund
Sameer Nath - Managing Partner, Iron Pillar Fund
Jayanta Banerjee - Managing Partner, ASK Pravi Capital Advisors Private Limited    
Shashwat Sharma - Partner, KPMG

3:30pm – 03:45pm
Networking break

03:45pm – 04:30pm
Panel: LPs view on “Debutant fund managers”
Hordes of first-time fund managers are out in the market to raise PE or VC funds. How do LPs take a call on such GPs? What are the factors that need a tick mark before buying into a debutant’s story? Can one rely on past funds they managed as part of a different group? What due diligence do LPs insist on before backing a GP and how many notches does this escalate in the case of first-time fund managers or those going solo?

Heramb Hajarnavis - Founder & MD, Sealink Capital Partners
Amit Dabas - Vice President, HQ Capital
Abhishek Sharman - Founder and MD, Carpediem Capital Partners
Ritesh Banglani - Partner, Stellaris Venture Partner
Bryan Stewart - Director, Asia-Pacific, Liberty Global Partners    
Satya Bansal - CEO, Barclays Wealth and Investment Management - India
Sameer Nath - Managing Partner, Iron Pillar Fund (Moderator)


Speakers

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Abhishek Sharman

Founder & Managing Director, Carpediem Advisors Private Limited
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Amit Dabas

Vice President, HQ Capital
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Archana Hingorani

CEO & Executive Director, IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd.
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Anita Marangoly George

Managing Director, South Asia, CDPQ India
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Amit Anand

Founding & Managing Partner, Jungle Ventures
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Anand Narayan

Managing Director, Creador Advisors India Pvt Ltd
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Arvind Kodikal

Sr. Investment Officer, Triodos Investment Management BV
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Anuj Ranjan

Managing Partner- Middle East & South Asia, Brookfield Asset Management
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Bala Deshpande

Senior MD, NEA
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Bala Naidu

Managing Partner, Argha Capital LLP
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Bill Spindle

South Asia Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal
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Bryan Stewart

Director of Asia-Pacific at Emerging Markets PE & VC advisory and placement firm, Liberty Global Partners
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D Muthukumaran

CEO, Aditya Birla Private Equity | @AdityaBirlaGrp
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Dhanpal Jhaveri

Managing Partner, Everstone Capital
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Dhiraj Poddar

Country Head, India, TA Associates Advisory Pvt Ltd
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Fakhri Ahmadov

CEO & Managing Director, Ahmadoff & Company
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Gaurav Kapoor

Senior Private Sector Development Adviser, UK Department for International Development (DFID)
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Girish Vanvari

National Head of Tax, KPMG in India
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Gopal Srinivasan

Chairman & MD, TVS Capital Funds | @TVSCapitalFunds
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Harsh Shah

Chief Financial Officer, Sterlite Power
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Hemant G. Contractor

Chairman, PFRDA
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Heramb Hajarnavis

Founder & MD, Sealink Capital Partners
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Jayanta Banerjee

Managing Partner, ASK Pravi Capital Advisors Private Limited
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John Dougery

Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners
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Jonathan Wright

Managing Director International, Dow Jones
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Kanwal Rekhi

Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners
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Kay Mok Ku

Partner, Gobi Management (Singapore) Pte Ltd
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Krishnava Dutt

Managing Partner, Argus Partners | @Argus_Partners
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Kopin Tan

Head, Barrons APAC
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M.K Sinha

Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer, IDFC Alternatives
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Manish Kejriwal

Managing Partner, Kedaara Capital Advisors LLP
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Mathew Cyriac

, Florintree Advisors
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Michael Liu

Senior Vice President, Portfolio Advisors
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Mukul Gulati

Managing Director, Zephyr Peacock
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Munish Dayal

Partner, Baring Private Equity Partners
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Neeraj Bharadwaj

MD, The Carlyle Group
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Nikhil Khattau

Managing Director, Mayfield
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Niren Shah

Managing Director, Norwest Venture Partners India
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Pramod Ahuja

Partner, Tata Capital Growth Fund
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Prashant Purker

Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Venture
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Parth Gandhi

MD, AION India Investment Advisors
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Promeet Ghosh

Managing Director, Temasek Holdings Advisors India Pvt. Ltd | @Temasek
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Rahul Bhasin

Managing Partner, Baring Private Equity Partners (India) Pvt Ltd
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Rahul Khanna

Managing Partner, Trifecta Capital | @TrifectaCapital
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Renuka Ramnath

Founder, MD and CEO, Multiples Alternate Asset Management
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Rishi Kohli

MD, Monsoon Capital
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Ritesh Banglani

Partner, Stellaris Ventures
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Sameer Nath

Managing Partner, Iron Pillar Fund
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Shahzad Madon

Head PMS & Alternative Assets, Reliance Capital Asset Management
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Saugata Bhattacharya

Senior Vice-President, Business and Chief Economist, Axis Bank | @AxisBank
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Satya Bansal

CEO, Barclays Wealth and Investment Management - India
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Shashank Singh

Partner & India Head, Apax Partners
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Shashwat Sharma

Partner, KPMG in India
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Siddharth Shah

Partner, Khaitan & Co
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Simon Hopkins

CEO, Milltrust International Group &, Chairman, Milltrust Agricultural Investments Chairman, East India Capital Management
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Sudhir Sethi

Founder Chairman & MD, IDG Ventures India
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Suresh Goyal

ED & India Head - Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, Macquarie Funds Group
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Sujan Hajra

Chief Economist, Executive Director, Institutional Equity, Anand Rathi Securities
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Sudhir Variyar

Managing Director, Multiples Alternate Asset Management Private Limited
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Vikram Gupta

Founder & Managing Partner, IvyCap Ventures | @IvyCapVentures
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Vishal Bali

Senior Advisor ( Healthcare ) TPG Growth/Chairman, Medwell Ventures
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Vishal Tulsiyan

CEO and MD, Motilal Oswal Private Equity
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Vivek Soni

Partner, Private Equity Group, KPMG in India

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VCC Events opens up the avenues for participation. Join hands to be a part of India’s largest gathering of alternative investments leaders, industry stakeholders and Asia’s influential limited partners, general partners and marquee advisors. Your chance to actively participate and augment yourself as thought leaders.


Venue :

Taj Lands End, Mumbai

Date: 1st - 2nd March
Address : Taj Lands End, Mumbai
Byramji Jeejeebhoy Road, Band Stand, Bandra West,
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050


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