India's Tata Capital raises $800 mln for PE funds

MUMBAI May 12 (Reuters) - Tata Capital, a unit of India's diversified Tata group, has received commitments for $800 million by the end of March, for its private equity funds, its chief executive said.

"Despite the difficult fund raising environment, we have been able to successfully build assets of $800 million and are optimistic to achieve the target well before the earlier announced deadline of December 2011," Praveen Kadle said.

Last year, Tata Capital set up a private equity fund jointly with Japan's Mizuho Securities to invest in unlisted Indian companies, with a target of raising $1 billion by December 2011.

The firm offers financial services across consumer and corporate finance, equity research, and investment banking. It also runs several private equity funds, including Tata Growth Fund and Tata Opportunities Fund.

So far, Tata Capital has invested $150 million across six deals, Kadle said. It is looking to make investments in information technology, engineering, healthcare and education sectors.

Of the overseas commitments for the PE funds, nearly 40 percent has come from Japanese investors, with the balance from investors in South east Asia and Europe, Kadle said.

In 2010, investments in India by private equity and venture capital firms doubled from the previous year to $7.97 billion, industry lobby group Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said. (Reporting by Prashant Mehra; editing by Malini Menon)