Amidst concerns in the regulatory-driven sectors s­uch as power, there are opportunities in a

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slew of sectors in India, ranging from e-commerce, IT and IT-enabled services, NBFC, he­al­thcare, insurance and renewable energy, according to panellists at the India Economic Summit.

They also felt that key sectors such as infrastructure, where regulatory concerns are making investments risky, may provide better returns in the long-term given the lower valuations at the moment.

VK Bansal, chairman, India - investment banking, Morgan Stanley India, said e-commerce and internet companies from India on a high growth path. He reckoned more companies from this space to raise funds from overseas investors in the next 6-12 months by listing in the US markets. MakeMyTrip, wh­ich raised nearly $70 million via ADR in August 2010, was managed by Morgan Stanley.

“We expect more such offerings from e-commerce space in next 6-12 months,” he told Financial Chronicle.

Sandeep Naik, co-head & MD, India of Apex Partners India, a private equity fund, said niche segment within the financial services sector such as gold-loan firms, regional media and retail offered “spectacular” prospe­cts. “Consumption is a big theme”, Naik said, speaking at a session on ‘Where is the most promising growth prospect in Indian markets for global and domestic investors?’

Udayan Sen, CEO and managing partner, Deloitte India, said IT and ITeS companies in India are moving up the value chain, and would do well because of that.

He pointed out that despite the protectionism moves by the developed markets the Indian IT companies grew at 9-10 per cent year-on-year in the last three years.

Sen said the low-cost jobs in the IT sector may move to countries such as Malaysia and Philippines but as Indian IT sector move up the value chain, there would not be any threat of losing revenues.

Manish Kejriwal, managing partner of Kedaara Capital Advisors and former India boss of Temasek, said the sectors that have been beaten down due to regulatory concerns or policy uncertainties, if played carefully with a long-term time horizon, may give hi­gher returns. “There is high risk involved, but there are high rewards also on offer,” Kejriwal said.

Rahul Guptan, director of Clifford Chance, a law firm, said his firm was seeing “huge interest” from clients for “renewables and solar” energy space. Guptan reckoned the huge backlog of IPOs to unclog in 2012, just like in 2009, where Indian primary market saw several big ticket IPOs after the halt in 2008.