IVCA hosted the 10th annual IVCA conference in virtual conclave format on 17th March 2021. The welcome address to the opening session was given to Ms. Renuka Ramnath, IVCA Chairperson, Founder, MD, CEO Multiple Alternative Asset Management. The first day of discussion was focused on major investment themes in a post-pandemic world and why India is an attractive investment destination.

"The IVCA (Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association) is India’s apex body representing the interests of PE/VC industry for over a decade. IVCA is a non-profit organization powered by its members. The member firms comprise of influential firms from around the world, including Private Equity & Venture Capital Funds, Corporate Advisers, Lawyers, and Institutional Advisors.”

Ms. Ramnath opened the conclave by mentioning that this flagship event of the PE/VC industry was being attended by key government dignitaries notably: Honourable Minister Commerce and Industry- Sri Piyush Goyal, Niti Aayog CEO- Amitabh Kant, CEO and MD Invest India - Deepak Bagla, Jayant Sinha - Chairman Parliament Committee on Finance and Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) of the government of India.

She added, “what greater endorsement can we have for the recognition by the government towards this industry’s contribution to nation-building”. Ms. Ramnath also mentioned that despite the pandemic, IVCA had grown its membership over the last year and that IVCA’s continues to play a key role in interacting with the government to drive a better overall investment in India and will continue to deepen engagement with the government.

Honorable Piyush Goyal stated, “ We are very fortunate to have the support of the entire VC/PE ecosystem during the pandemic and the nation will always be grateful”. He also added, “ I am very clear that we should have domestic pools of capital…this is not with intention of closing the door to international participations…but I am very clear that domestic capital chases some good investments in the domestic ecosystem that will generate a lot of confidence in India globally”. He added, “New India is moving with more energy and excitement about the future…. this encourages our start-ups to find innovative solutions to problems in India and even abroad”. Further supporting the gender diversity, he also added, I am delighted that IVCA has a female Chairperson" Renuka Ramnath.

Honorable Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India (CEA) stated, “The change in the mindset that is required for the private sector to invest far more in the innovation.” He also added, “Indian private sector needs to recognize the path-breaking innovations and entrepreneurship, as well as the investment in the basic research, needs to be greater and the application in the real world will come but in a significant amount of time.” He added, “In applied research when the sector is generating cash flows we need ploughing back of the profits back into innovations and that requires long-run thinking and planning.”

Several other sessions were held during the day. These included: Fireside chat between Sunil Munjal, Hero Enterprises, and Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman & Managing Director, TVS Capital. Sunil Munjal spoke about the need to create a robust environment to generate risk capital and create businesses that were focused on the double bottom line.

IVCA conclave will continue to host discussion and deliberations on various key themes in the PE/VC ecosystem – ranging from the role of domestic capital in energizing risk capital, growth and trajectory of family investment offices and regulatory changes that have the potential of making India a preferred investment destination in the upcoming sessions.