mumbai cdc the british governments development finance arm will invest 680 million in india as a 75 gdp growth forecast for the country makes the environment more conducive for longterm investors cdc one of the earliest private equity investors in india has pumped over 1 billion directly as well as indirectly into 325 companies in asias no3 economy if the fund finds the right opportunities it will make multimilliondollar investments in the next two years said a top executive of cdcthe worlds oldest development finance institution is excited about opportunities in the affordable services space and intends to support ventures that will create more jobs and aid in sustainable development said cdcs south asia head n srinivasan india is the single largest market in terms of exposure for cdc where it backs domesticfocused private equity funds as well as makes direct equity and debt investmentsabout 70 of the 1billion investment till date has been directed towards private equity funds such as idfc multiple actis aavishkaar rabo agri business fund avigo and baring india and the balance 30 has been invested in companies including ratnakar bank rainbow hospitals narayana hrudayalaya janalakshmi finance and equitaascdc which started backing companies directly in 2012 wants to ramp up its direct investments in the country the areas that attract the fund are infrastructure industrial healthcare and financial services but even within these sectors it prefers to put money in companies that meet its goal of making a difference to the lower section of the community through increment in employment opportunities among other things we believe the next unicorns will come from the affordable services space of healthcare housing and financial inclusion said srinivasan adding that the sweet spot of investment for cdc is between 25 million and 50 millionsrinivasan described the exit environment with regard to its private equity funds portfolio as difficult this is because the performance of such funds investments has been mixed private equity investments in india touched a record 15 billion in 2015 according to bloomberg compared to 85 billion in 2014