Private equity (PE) major Actis has sealed the first investment in India’s real estate sector. The UK headquartered fund is investing $25 million into Bangalore-based Vaishnavi Group from its $300-million India-dedicated real estate fund. The investment will go into Vaishnavi’s special purpose vehicle (SPV) developing a one million sq ft mixed use project in the city suburb, Yeshwantpur. 03 capital advised Vaishavi on the private equity transacion. Last year, Actis set up its first real estate-focused fund for tapping into the rapidly growing sector. Actis has been active in ploughing investments into domestic services and consumer space, which has led to buyout of supermarket chain Nilgiris and taking 50% stake in Sterling Hospitals. The decade-old Vaishnavi has over one million sq ft of completed projects mostly in Bangalore, and has over 3 million sq ft under development. The Yeshwantpur project, involving residential and retail space, is one of the biggest standalone projects for the group.