Mumbai: Thomson Financial of the US, the worlds leading database on capital markets, has come to India. In a major move, Thomson has entered into an agreement with the Indian venture capital association (IVCA) and Prime Database to create an internationally benchmarked database of the Indian venture capital industry.

Thomson has been tracking the venture capital industry across the world since 1961. It is the sole database research provider to the US national venture capital association, Japans ministry of international trade and industry, and scores of VC associations including those of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore.

Thomsons products and services include VentureXpert, portfolio analysis, venture economic returns analysis, private equity performance database, and investment benchmark reports.

IVCA is the countrys umbrella association of venture capital funds, with a mission to facilitate the growth of venture capital and private equity activities, including lobbying effectively with the government on key regulatory issues. IVCA is now actively engaged in encouraging and assisting in the creation of more VC funds and in fostering a sense of industry cooperation through meetings, information exchange and research.

Prime Database has been tracking the Indian primary capital market since 1989. It offers information services on IPOs, rights issues, overseas issues, debt private placements, mutual funds, IPOs, open-offers and buybacks. Its products are used widely in India and abroad by investment bankers, mutual funds, corporations, and government agencies.

Significantly, despite the tremendous growth in this industry during the past five years, there is little reliable or updated data available. Even on the number of firms or the total amount of VC investments made in India, there exists a huge variance. For example, there are four different figures available on total investments by venture capital firms in India in the year 2000 - these being IVCA at US $1.2 billion, Nasscom at US $950 million, UNDP at US $342 million and Kanwal Rekhi of TIE at US $700 million. Even the estimate of number of funds operating in India is at a huge variance. While only about 25 VC firms are registered with Sebi (IVCA has a membership of about 30 firms), Prime has compiled through an extensive research a list of nearly 100 VC firms investing in India.

According to Prime Database managing director Prithvi Haldea, his company has launched a comprehensive survey of the venture capital industry in India. The survey would result in a database that can be made available in a variety of formats, including on Thomsons VentureXpert, which is available both on the web and SDC Platinum. The key data and analysis will also be made available in print in the form of IVCA Yearbook-2001, according to IVCA president Saurabh Srivastava.

The strategic joint venture between Thomson, IVCA and Prime database is set to make the private equity industry in India a booming success by allowing international investors to better structure their investment programmes with regard to venture capital firms based in India. The survey will, for the first time, validate venture fund industry data in India and will provide a valuable tool to promote the Indian venture industry.

Importantly, the survey will help create relationships of Indian VC firms with key international venture capital associations, investors and the press. It will allow for a better understanding of the VC investment trends in India and most importantly develop industry performance benchmarks for Indian fund managers and their constituencies.