scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Author

A. Thillai Rajan

Bio: A. Thillai Rajan is an academic researcher from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The author has contributed to research in topics: Venture capital & Investment (macroeconomics). The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 19 publications receiving 177 citations. Previous affiliations of A. Thillai Rajan include Indian Institutes of Technology & Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

Papers
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify various factors leading to power sector reform in developing countries, including contextual factors, facilitating factors, and trigger factors, which act as facilitators for initiating reform.

36 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of private equity investments in infrastructure finance was analyzed and it was found that projects with PE investment were larger when compared to projects that did not have PE investment, indicating that PE investment helped in successfully financing larger projects.

27 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a meta-analysis synthesises the evidence on the effectiveness of bottom-up approaches that is characterized by the strong involvement of alternate service providers such as NGO's and CBO's in improving access to electricity, water supply, and sanitation services for the urban poor.

23 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provided a perspective of social venture investments in India based on an analysis of 523 deals in 212 companies, which indicated that venture funding for social enterprises had several distinctive characteristics such as smaller investment sizes, early stage investing, and longer investment duration, indicating the need for more active contributions and value addition from the investors.
Abstract: Venture funding for social enterprises has seen significant growth in the first decade of the 21st century. Using the traditional approaches of venture investing in social enterprises to create positive social impact while simultaneously achieving financial returns has been intuitively appealing. India has emerged as one of the largest marketplaces for social venture investing. This article provides a perspective of social venture investments in India based on an analysis of 523 deals in 212 companies. The results indicated that venture funding for social enterprises had several distinctive characteristics such as smaller investment sizes, early stage investing, and longer investment duration. Financial inclusion has been the main investment thesis, as evidenced by the large number of investments in microfinance companies. Most investments were in companies that facilitated consumption at the base of the pyramid segment, rather than in companies that created income and employment opportunities. Creation of dedicated social venture funds would benefit the sector, as such funds made more investments as compared to mainstream venture funds. Evidence from the microfinance industry showed that the scale of the investee company was one of the important criteria for investment. Performance parameters of microfinance companies that had venture investment did not significantly vary from those that were not venture funded, indicating the need for more active contributions and value addition from the investors.

20 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a panel that comprised VCs, an entrepreneur and an academic debated the interrelationships between VC funding and portfolio firm performance and found that the value addition effect dominates the selection effect in accounting for the superior performance of VC funded companies.
Abstract: Venture Capital (VC) has emerged as the dominant source of finance for entrepreneurial and early stage businesses, and the Indian VC industry in particular has clocked the fastest growth rate globally. Academic literature reveals that VC funded companies show superior performance to non VC funded companies. However, given that venture capitalists (VCs) select and fund only the best companies, how much credit can they take for the performance of the companies they fund? Do the inherent characteristics of the firm result in superior performance or do VCs contribute to the performance of the portfolio company after they have entered the firm? A panel that comprised VCs, an entrepreneur and an academic debated these and other research questions on the inter-relationships between VC funding and portfolio firm performance. Most empirical literature indicates that the value addition effect dominates the selection effect in accounting for the superior performance of VC funded companies. The panel discussion indicates that the context as well as the experience of the General Partners in the VC firms can influence the way VCs contribute to the efficiency of their portfolio companies.

18 citations


Cited by
More filters
Journal Article
John E. Besant-Jones1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors broadly follow the structure of the World Bank's Operational Guidance Note (OGN) for Public and Private Roles in the Supply of Electricity Services.
Abstract: This paper broadly follows the structure of the World Bank's Operational Guidance Note (OGN) for Public and Private Roles in the Supply of Electricity Services. Following the overview in chapter 1, the rest of chapter 2 sets out the techno-economic basis and the importance of political and institutional factors for reforming power markets in developing countries. Chapter 3 covers the current extent and outcomes of power market reform in developing countries. Chapter 4 covers enterprise restructuring and corporate governance, including the respective roles of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises in the provision of electricity services. Chapter 5 covers market structure, including restructuring power systems, the experience with independent power producers, and competition in the power market. Chapter 6 covers regulation of power markets. Chapter 7 covers ways that power market reform can support access and affordability to electricity services for the poor. The final chapter of the paper -- chapter 8 -- covers reform implementation, which complements the subjects covered by the OGN. The chapter covers three main aspects: (a) the challenges for implementing power market reform, including governments' roles and responsibilities in this endeavor; (b) the sequencing of power market reform; and (c) managing reform transition, especially the importance of starting conditions. The appendix to the paper examines the relevance of experience with power market reform in OECD countries for reform in developing countries.

175 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take stock of the pre-reform situation in Indian power sector and identify key concerns that led to initiation of the process of reform, and discuss two issues arising out of it, namely open access and multi-year tariff that they think would have a significant bearing on the performance of the sector in the near future.

145 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a framework for accessing comparative efficiencies of Indian State Owned Electric Utilities (SOEUs), which have been mainly responsible for the generation, distribution and transmission of electricity in India.

126 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The 2003 Electricity Act encourages further power production from these captive plants through its open access clause by encouraging the growth of these captive power plants, politicians in India set up a dualtrack economy, whereby state-run and market-run production exist side-by-side as discussed by the authors.

124 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors provided a comprehensive account of the process with some emphasis on recent developments of China's electric power sector and identified some of the features that are similar to electricity market reforms in other countries and, most importantly, those that characterize the uniqueness of the restructuring practices in China's electricity industry through investigating the administrative framework, price and investment mechanisms, and associated legislation and policy settings at each of the five stages in the evolution of the electric utility sector.
Abstract: Deregulation and decentralization in the electricity sector have thrived worldwide since the early 1980s. China also started restructuring its electricity industry since the mid-1980s. The reform shares many common features with restructuring practices in other countries and exhibits some unique characteristics as well. To some extent, two features, namely governmental administrative departments' dual role of government and business inherited from a highly centralized planned economy, and the coal-intensive nature of power generation, has determined many aspects of the evolution of China's electric power sector. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive account of the process with some emphasis on recent developments. We also identify some of the features that are similar to electricity market reforms in other countries and, most importantly, those that characterize the uniqueness of the restructuring practices in China's electricity industry through investigating the administrative framework, price and investment mechanisms, and associated legislation and policy settings at each of the five stages in the evolution of the electric utility sector. The paper concludes with a discussion and summary of some generic characteristics and remaining challenges.

109 citations