Khaitan to expand Funds practice Incorporates Shubhkam and iPro Capital

Khaitan & Co’s Head of Funds Daksha Baxi (pictured) incorporated ‘Shubhkam Growth Fund’ and iPro Capital each of which will seek to invest nearly Rs.100 crore ($26.6 million)..In India, the private equity players have to still structure the funds as venture capitalists due to lack of regulation to govern these private equity players. SEBI in 1996 through SEBI (Venture Capital Funds) Regulations, 1996 laid down detailed regulations governing venture capital funds (VCF) only and till date no regulations govern private equity (PE) players forcing them to operate under the garb of a venture capital..Dakhsa Baxi says “There is no pure play domestic private equity players in India today. Though there are several funds, which call themselves “Private Equity Funds”, e.g. Aditya Birla Private Equity Fund, they are actually registered as VCFs under the VCF Regulations of the SEBI. In a direct comparison, in the western countries, PE players are involved in major buyouts of listed companies. The other regulatory hurdle in India, VCFs are allowed to invest only 33 and 1/3rd percent of its corpus in listed companies with further restrictions, making it difficult to invest as private equity players who invest in large cap listed companies”..She adds “Private equity sphere is still in its nascent stage in India and there is tremendous growth potential and there are enough examples of growth of these PE funds globally. I believe that in the next 2 to 5 years this sector will offer tremendous growth opportunities”..Khaitan has been steadily building its funds practice with Daksha Baxi joining from Nishith Desai three years ago. The Funds team that consists of Daksha Baxi and 5 other Associates and Senior Associates is looking to ramp up its practice this year with new recruits.