low graphics version | feedback | help
Kerry Packer, the Australian media baron and the man who introduced the concept of day-night cricket more than 20 years ago, has turned aggressively bullish on India.
Less than a month after picking up a 10% stake in an Indian telecom company - HFCL - for 1,039 Crore Rupees ($240m), he has announced in Bombay plans to team up with two other Indians to set up a venture capital fund with an initial investment of 1,100 Crore ($250m).
 Kerry Packer thinks India's IT sector holds promise
|
Mr Packer may also pick up a minority stake in an Indian TV station and newspapers here are already speculating about which one it could be.
Packer himself refused to elaborate on the issue.
"If I tell you anything more you would know as much as I do and I don't want that to happen," he told journalists amidst laughter.
Favouring India
But he made no secret of his growing fondness for India as an investment destination.
We've looked at Asia closely and we've decided that our major play in Asia
is going to be India. I think India is the country of the future, not China.  |
Kerry Packer
|
"I think you have the basis of good law, you have people who are highly intelligent. This is a country which is transforming itself and the intellectual property of this country - especially in the IT sector - is now being recognised by the world."
Little wonder than the new venture capital fund - named KVP ventures - would invest in the new economy sector with the focus on high growth and high technology areas of information technology, software, the internet, e-commerce, telecoms, the media and biotechnology.
Mr Packer's two Indian partners who will be investing equally in the venture fund will be the chairman of the Indian telecom giant, HFCL, Vinay Maloo, and a stockbroker in the Bombay stock exchange, Ketan Parekh.
Parekh is no ordinary stockbroker.
In the last couple of years of bull run on the Indian markets, he has made a formidable reputation for himself as the biggest mover and shaker on the Indian bourses.
His role is likely to remain unchanged as a partner in this new venture fund and his job would be - in his own words - "to find, promote and fund ideas and convert them into real stories."
|
Search BBC News Online |
|
|
 Advanced search options | |
| |
 | |
 | |
| |
 | BBC RADIO NEWS |
| |
| |
 | BBC ONE TV NEWS |
| |
| |
| WORLD NEWS SUMMARY |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 | PROGRAMMES GUIDE |
Country profiles
E-mail this story to a friend
~RS~a~RS~international~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~44~RS~)