Mumbai: Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) inflows rose to USD 4.4 billion in April, a clipping at a healthy 79 percent growth over USD 2.4 billion in same month last year, but down 41 percent on a month-on- month basis, says a report.

In the reporting month, there were 11 large deals, with value of USD 100 million each aggregating to USD 2.9 billion compared to eight large deals worth USD 1.9 billion in the year-ago month, according to the deal data compiled by consultancy EY.

The number of deals announced in the month were the highest ever at 102 for any month, compared to 75 in the same period last year and 92 deals in March.

Infrastructure was the top sector for the second consecutive month with USD 1 billion inflows on account of the USD 929-million ADIA, NIIF-GVK deal, the report said.

The month recorded 16 exits worth USD 1.6 billion, almost on par with April 2018. Exits crossed the USD 1 billion mark for the first time in six months, after recording the lowest value of exits in 2019 in March, it said.

"The improvement in exits compared to previous months was primarily on account of a rebound in exits via open market (USD 715 million), which is the highest since November 2017," the report said.

The largest exits was Squared Capital selling its stake in Amplus Energy to Petronas for USD 386 million followed by KKR selling its 0.54 percent stake in HDFC for USD 270 million and GIC's sale of its 3.8 percent stake in DLF for USD 187 million.

Total fund raised in the month stood at USD 682 million, up from USD 470 billion in April 2018, it showed.

Vivek Soni, national leader--private equity services at EY, April was the third best month for PE/VC investments in the past 12 months, though it was 41 percent lower than March.

The report also noted that infrastructure and realty drove this inflows. At USD 3.7 billion, inflows into the infra space during the January-April period have already surpassed the previous annual high seen in 2007.

"With eight more months to go and some large deals in the pipeline, we project 2019 to be a landmark year for PE/VC investments in the infra sector," he added.