Investments in PE-VC fall 6% to $20.3bn in Jan-July

CHENNAI: Private Equity-Venture Capital (PE-VC) in India crossed $20 billion mark in Jan-July this year (CY2026). However, it is nearly 6% lower than $21.5 billion recorded in the corresponding seven month period (Jan-July) last year (CY2025) .July 2026 recorded an investment of $3 billion, which is flat against $3.2 billion in the same month in 2025, data released by research firm Venture Intelligence showed. Global investment firm Brookfield’s Lumara, a renewable energy platform, led the PE-VC investments deals in July, with an investment of about $600 million. It took the cumulative investments to $20.3 billion this year comprising 756 deals. The PE-VC investments do not include those relating to the real estate sector.Arun Natarajan, founder, Venture Intelligence said, the investments highlighted the continued long-term faith global and domestic investors have in India’s private markets, amid geopolitical challenges and volatile public markets depressing IPO activity. “Healthy exits notched up by investors in recent months — including via the Meta-CRED deal and public market sales — offer a strong reason for optimism,” he told TOI.In recent months, PE investors are laying emphasis on sectors, such as infrastructure (especially renewable power companies), manufacturing (automobile and auto components in particular) and data centres, apart from the traditional sectors like NBFCs and healthcare. “VC investors are doubling down on B2B software startups, including special emphasis on AI-enabled companies like Sarvam AI and Emergent Labs,” he added.Natarajan said, private markets in India showed an impressive resilience across H1 2026. “So long as global macro conditions stay relatively stable, the total PE-VC deployment this year can be expected to land roughly on par with 2025,” he said.