India has emerged as the most favoured private equity destination attracting US$ 1,239.22 million worth investments in January, surpassing Asian giants like China and Japan, says a report by Asian Venture Capital Journal. Last year, the country was among the the top 10 PE destinations having witnessed a whopping growth of 252 per cent with investment as high as US$ 7,009 million for 2006 as against just US$ 1,992 million in 2005, the report said.

India is now also set to be counted among the biggest merger & acquisition (M&A) markets for 2007. In just one-and-a-half months of this year, India Inc has been involved in strategic M&A deals worth more than US$ 32 billion. The significance of the size can be gauged by the fact that just two years back India clocked M&As worth US$ 16.3 billion during an entire year.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) touched 11.1 per cent in December, following an increase in production at factories, utilities and mines. Keeping in tune with the positive surge in the economy that has been generating sustained interest in India, in this week's special, we look at Italia Marittima, an Italian company that operates from India's shores.