Pragati India Fund, a sector-agnostic private equity fund targeting to invest in economically underdeveloped and low-income states of India, has made its maiden investment of $5 million in Indore-based Jash Engineering Ltd, a manufacturer of customised engineering goods for water and waste water infrastructure sector.
Narayanan Shadagopan, managing director of Pragati Equity Advisors Pvt Ltd, said, “The fund and the company prefer to keep the percentage stake confidential at this point but it is a significant minority stake. In due course, we would look at increasing the stake, subject to certain conditions being met.â€
Jash Engineering is a manufacturer of customised equipment across the value chain in water and waste water management industries. Founded in 1972, the company specialises in products like gates, screens and valves, and is currently expanding into manufacturing of process equipment for treatment plants, screw pumps and clean power generation from residual water of water treatment plants, using hydropower screw generator technology.
Pratik Patel, managing director of Jash Engineering, said, “Over the past few years, our rapid growth has been fuelled by pioneering new technologies and continuously entering successive stages of the water infrastructure value chain in our quest to build an integrated product company. This investment will help us significantly to expand capacity, strengthen our export business and partner municipalities to generate clean power from residual water.â€
With 800 employees across three plants in Indore, the company exports its products to more than 20 countries.
Pragati India Fund, backed by the CDC and IFC who have committed $50 million and $20 million, respectively, has a 5-year investment horizon. Its target sectors include healthcare, ancillary infrastructure services, ancillary oil and gas services, manufacturing and education. Its typical investment size will be in the range of $5-15 million.
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