VCCircle

This just in: Wire agencies report that Merrill Lynch & Co has lost a key person in Sumeet Puri, the head of equity capital markets in India. Puri will leave the investment bank by August after a 13 year stint with the firm.

Puri was appointed as head of equities and origination of structured products in India only a few months ago. Merrill had previously lost two other key execs - Amit Chandra as the country head and Munesh Khanna as its head of investment banking. Both are floating their own buyout funds.

Other rumoured people moves from an Economic Times story today.

---Sumit Chandwani, director-investments at ICICI Ventures, may move to Sequoia Capital India, which is setting up an office in Mumbai. The Bangalore-based fund may also rope in Chandwani's colleague Amit Goenka. Please note: Sequoia, which manages about $750 million in India including a $400 million growth fund, didn't have an office in Mumbai till now.

--Arun Korati, head of New Vernon private equity, is joining a new offshore fund floated by UTI Bank.

--Srinath Srinivasan, head-private equity at Reliance Capital, along with two other key executives, has left the firm to join an international fund.

--Nandakumar Ranganathan, head of investment banking at DBS Bank, may join "as head of a niche American investment bank". The bank is set to announce the launch of its Indian operations in July.