At a time when foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are pulling out funds from India and investing elsewhere, private equity (PE) investors are still pumping in money, as the country remains one of the best-performing private equity and venture capital markets in the world.PE investors are still investing around $50 billion (around Rs 4.45 lakh crore) every year. “For many investors, India has been the best-performing PE market. It offers very good liquidity, which is why money is still flowing in,” said Amit Chandra, Chairperson, Bain Capital India.In an interview to The Indian Express, Chandra, who is also Co-founder of the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation (ATECF), said PE and venture capital flows have recently ebbed from a peak four years ago and are currently running in the $50-60 billion range, largely due to a pullback in venture capital investment. US-based Bain Capital has $ 205 billion assets under management.On the other hand, FPIs have pulled out Rs 1.55 lakh crore ($17.41 billion) from the Indian stock markets in calendar year 2025 as returns from other markets like Korea, Japan and Mexico were much higher.Chandra, who was on the boards of Tata Sons during 2016–19 and Tata Trusts, said domestic capital in the PE industry was negligible 15 years ago, but has now grown to about 15 per cent. India needs to intentionally grow its domestic PE industry to about 50 per cent to align with the vision of Viksit Bharat, especially in areas of national priority like agriculture, defence, R&D, innovation and venture capital.Contesting the perception that returns from India are small for PE investors, Chandra said India has been one of the “best-performing private equity and venture capital markets” for many firms, offering good liquidity. FPI issues like comparative valuations and currency concerns are different from PE’s longer-term view. “If there’s more opportunity, more (PE) money will come to India. It offers very good liquidity, which is why money is still flowing in,” he said.Chandra highlighted the need for a healthy venture capital and growth capital ecosystem to sustain the entire investment chain and support innovation and job creation. “If you look at the last 10 years, almost $500 billion of private equity and venture capital flows have actually come into the corporate sector,” he said. “Put in context, over 50 per cent of all FDI has come from private equity.”Story continues below this ad“Therefore, the amount of capacity that has been created and the number of jobs that have been created because of private equity and venture capital is absolutely non-trivial,” Chandra said.When asked about high valuations in the stock market, high-priced IPOs and market froth, Chandra, who was earlier Managing Director of DSP Merrill Lynch, said markets are rarely perfect and while there might be some froth in certain parts, there are “no such signs right now that there is a bubble.”However, Chandra declined to comment on his experience with the Tatas, citing that the subject is “too close” to them. He was on the boards of both Tata Sons and Tata Trusts till 2019.Chandra, who is now focusing on philanthropy, said individual philanthropy has room for growth, suggesting that the number of generous givers could be five times greater than the current number, and that those currently giving could easily double or triple their contributions. He noted that philanthropy as a share of wealth is less than 0.5 per cent. “Today, there are nearly 2,000 Indian families with over Rs 1,000 crore of wealth. You have to ask the question: if somebody has Rs 1,000 crore of wealth, can they give Rs 5 crore or can’t they? How many of them can give Rs 5 crore? Only 200 of them gave Rs 5 crore,” he said.Story continues below this ad“When you look at the percentage that these people are giving as an aggregate — that is, how much philanthropy is happening divided by how much wealth exists — it is a very small number, less than 0.5 per cent,” he said. CSR has grown significantly since its introduction 10 years ago, currently amounting to about Rs 35,000 crore annually and growing at double digits. But when you look at the Hurun Rich List, this country has been an extraordinary place for wealth creation, he said.