Seems so, looking at how Warburg Pincus has chosen McKinsey's Leo Puri as one of its MD in Mumbai (hat-tip: VCCircle)
So what do Private Equity firms do?
According to the wikipedia:
Private equity firms typically manage a family of fund vehicles which are used to make investments in companies or other assets. These funds can be structured in a number of different ways although the most common form for an institutional private equity fund is either the Limited Partnership (LP) or the Limited Liability Company (LLC).
Given a choice, dear reader, where would you work? Consulting firm or a PE firm?
Actually I am seeing this mostly only in India. If you look at US etc etc, it is very difficult to find consultants being wooed to any extent by financial firms (iBanks, PE, funds), VC firms or technology companies. In fact there is palpable sense of derision against consultants. The only standout seems to be Bain Capital, but again it is supposed to be completely separate from the consulting arm.
ReplyDeleteBut in India, surprisingly, ex-consultants head up a lot of the BPO operations, VC funds, PE funds.
I think the reason is mostly in the nature of growth in India. In the US, after 20 years of the technology invading every facet of companies, almost all firms are operating close to optimal efficiency. So growth comes thru innovation, which frankly is not a strong point of consultants. But in India, most of the value being created is thru productivity gains and an increase in professionalism. Which is something to which consultants can add a lot of value as they can "arbitrage" their overseas experience in India.
Private Equity, for sure. More entrepreneurial control, more money, sexier work.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt.