Citibank to invest $50 m. in IT companies

NEW DELHI: Citibank Private Equity Fund plans to invest around $ 50 million

in infotech companies during the next one year. It has already invested around

$50 million in 26 infotech companies so far. Typically, each of the investments

has been in the $1-5 million range with the maximum investment going up to 40

per cent. The corpus of the fund, which stands at around $100 million, would be

increased as soon as it is exhausted.

According to Citibank Private Equity India head Ajay Relan, some of the

companies that it has invested in like Rediff, DCM Tech, Dishnet, and NewGen are

expected to go public soon. Significantly, over the past seven months, the Fund

has invested in several dotcoms. These include Rediff, Travelmart, Icleo and

MindZones. The Fund plans to invest in a Times of India Group venture,

Timesofmoney.com. The financial portal to be launched by July will be an

aggregator of all kinds of financial services with the possibility of financial

transactions. The Citibank Group would invest around Rs 30 crore in the new

venture, of which Rs 10 crore would be invested by the IT wing of the Citibank

Group, Citil.

Ajay Relan said that the Fund looks for the following parameters in a company

before agreeing for an investment: A dedicated and effective management in

implementing ideas; prompt execution of ideas; the ability to organize an

enthusiastic team and keep them motivated. The larger the audience, the wider

the appeal of the venture. The idea should be suitable for selling on the Net

and should have a global appeal so that the scale of operation is scalable. The

ideal dotcom idea should be able to combine the subscription model with

e-commerce and corporate sponsorship, said Relan.