Promod Haque, the world's topmost venture capitalist and the managing partner of Norwest Venture Partners, is scouting for investment opportunities in India, say media reports.
Haque, said reports, is keen on investing in the booming business process outsourcing services sector in India and is looking for good BPO firms to invest in.
The United States-based NVP has already invested about $6 million in Epiance, a Bangalore-based BPO services firm. But, Haque apparently is looking for more.
"We have invested more than $100 million in some seven companies in the last three years,'' Indian Express quoted Vab Goel, Partner, NVP, as saying.
Over a dozen CEOs, CIOs and CTOs of the seven companies will be assembling in Mumbai on Tuesday (June 22) to meet up with more than 100 Indian industry captains, said an Indian Express report. Promod Haque will be leading the team.
Three of the seven US companies -- Virtela Communications, Veraz Networks and Cast Iron Systems -- have been co-founded by Indian-Americans, said a report in The Times of India.
NVP currently manages more than $1.8 billion funds worldwide. Forbes said of the New Delhi-born Haque when he was named the world's top VC: "Like many venture capitalists, Promod Haque slammed a few home runs in the late Nineties bubble -- but lately the big hits have been harder to come by for the managing partner of Norwest Venture Partners. One promising fledgling, a Voice over Internet Protocol play called Veraz Networks, has gone through a foreclosure, a merger, three name changes and two business plans."
"But Haque stuck it out rather than cut and run as many VCs are prone to do. Now Veraz is coming back: It has $60 million in annual revenue and runs ten global networks, in Russia, India, Southeast Asia and elsewhere," said Forbes.
Forbes quoted Haque as saying: "By the time the market picks up in the US, we'll already have a global leadership position."
Son of a bureaucrat father and a schoolteacher mother, Haque holds an engineering degree from the University of Delhi.
Haque is in favour of outsourcing to low-cost destinations, and feels the trend has only just begun. He believes that in the long term, exposing countries like India and China to technology will create additional markets for US products, said Forbes.
