Anyone reading the business pages recently could not fail to notice that international private-equity companies see India as their favourite destination.

And there is one sector that stands out: medical services.

The headlines prove it: Jardine Rothschild Asia Capital to make $40 million investment in Quality Care; or General Atlantic in talks over a $100m deal to buy DM Healthcare; or Aureos Capital invests $10m in BSR Super Speciality Hospitals.

Such investments came into vogue last year, and this year is shaping up to produce an equal number of deals, if not more.

Venture Intelligence, based in Mumbai, recently published a study detailing private-equity deal flows and predicted trends for this year.

"Our survey found that health care is the sector that investors expect to prefer the most in 2012. We expect the strong pace of investments in this sector to continue," said Arun Natarjan, the chief executive of Venture Intelligence.

Nervousness in the global market is driving investors away from initial public offerings (IPOs) and towards buyouts instead, he adds.

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