It takes a lifetime to build competence.
Venture Capital doesn’t move as fast
As a lot of people would like to believe.
In 1987, I drafted an application to IFCI for a startup wanting venture capital. It led to the creation of India’s first venture capital funded company. The venture fund was RCTC (Risk Capital Technology Consortium) and the portfolio company was Perpetual Power. It aspired to produce break free power for large computer networks.
But there was no law on venture capital.
And no regulator.
RBI refused to entertain such “absurd”ideas under the NBFC framework.
Later on when Dr Manmohan Singh became the Finance Minister , I got to work on the creation of TRAI, SEBI and India’s liberalisation strategy. I came up with the idea of creating a second category of NBFCs called Venture Capital Funds but one that would be regulated not by RBI, but by SEBI. After three months of research in various libraries in Mumbai – I came up with a preliminary idea sheet for India’s Venture Capital Regulations.
These got iterated but finally got approved as SEBI’s Venture Capital Regulations 1996. They set the minimum investment per investor at Rs 5 lacs.
The only problem was that no one was willing to invest the grand sum of Rs 5 lacs in such a crazy scheme. And so, no one wanted to set up such a fund. I happened to meet Mrs Warren Buffet in Dharamshala and she suggested that I should set up a venture capital company. Satish Kaura, my IIT senior and guide suggested I visit IIT Kanpur and see the Samtel centre. Prof Kalluri Sarma loved the idea of India’s first venture capital company and suggested I set it up in Kanpur. IIT let me use their address to start.
This is how India’s first venture capital company was set up. Not in Bombay but in Kanpur.
The next task was to find Rs 5 lac+ investors for such a crazy scheme. My IIT batchmates came to my rescue. Deepak Amin who had built the Internet Explorer agreed to join. Rohinton Dehmubed who had helped build the first Indian promoted startup (Transwitch) to hit a billion dollars on Nasdaq joined. Climate change activist amd wildlife enthusiast Srinivas Rachakonda was the next to join. And so India’s first and now India’s largest venture capital company came into existence. Once the first three had come on board, there were several others. Dr. Anil Kejriwal from Singapore, Sanjiv Goyal from Las Vegas added to the global list. And then it just kept growing.
Tomorrow, 26 January 2026, India will celebrate its 77th Republic Day 🇮🇳. It will also be the 25th anniversary of India’s first and largest venture capital company. A quiet, below the radar fund that destroys every single notion that western media propagates about venture capital.
In a world where longest tenure is 12 years. This is now a 99 year tenure Alternate Invesment Fund. Which will hopefully outlive us all.
Dedicated to service of the nation.
