New Delhi, Mar 11 (IANS); Private equity or venture capital investments rose by 51 per cent year-on-year to $2.6 billion (Rs 18,177.9 crore) in February 2019, said an EY report. It was 41 per cent higher than January.

"February 2019 recorded $2.6 billion in PE or VC investments, 51 per cent higher compared with February 2018 and 41 per cent higher compared with the previous month. The growth was driven by higher number of large deals (deals of value greater than $100 million)," said the report by the global consultancy firm for tax, transaction and advisory services.

Nine large deals aggregating $1.8 billion (Rs 12,578.2 crore) were made last month.

SoftBank and Carlyle's $415 million (Rs 2,899.9 crore) investment in Delhivery was the largest deal in February 2019 and also the largest PE/VC deal in the logistics sector, it said.

Among the sectors, financial services got the highest PE investment at $712 million (Rs 4,976.16 crore) across 13 deals in February followed by logistics ($470 million or Rs 3,285.6 crore). The e-commerce segment received $35 million (Rs 244.62 crore) investments across five deals, EY said.

However, value of exits by PE investors in February 2019 also rose three times in February than a year ago period, at $472 million (Rs 3,298.9 crore), according to the report.

"This was on the back of a rebound in open market exits in wake of the volatility in the stock markets subsiding," it said.