India and Israel Link Up to Commercialize Technology Innovation as Funding Flows In

India and Israel will begin a technology commercialization collaboration early in 2006, VS Ramamurthy, India's science and technology secretary, told the Indo-Asian News Service in an article widely distributed in the India press.

"Israel will be our first research and development partner for commercialization of innovations,” Ramamurthy said.

India's announcement of the joint venture comes as private-equity funding expands in the country.

"While the government accounts for over 80 percent of investment in research and development, the increasing risk-taking appetite of the private sector for innovation is seeing considerable activity and investment,” Ramamurthy added in the IANS article, available here.

According to a Reuters report, Private equity funds raised $260 million to invest in India in 2003, but by June, new funds already topped $500 million, according to researchers at the Asian Venture Capital Journal.

India's economy may grow as much as 8 percent this year while expanding at a 5-percent rate since the start of the decade, compared to less than 2 percent growth in Europe on a 10-year average and 3 percent growth in the US.

Private equity investment in India has more than doubled in 12 months to about $2 billion, Amrish Baliga, head of the private capital practice at ICICI Securities, told the online publication Daily News India. This investment is, however, is targeting listed companies, Nitin Deshmukh, head of private equity at Kotak Mahindra Bank, told the publication.

Meantime, International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will invest about $ 300 million in another 3-5 years in pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare companies in India, according to reports.