Here's how private equity players plan to tide over COVID-19 crisis

"It is too early to assess but it will be a pretty big economic impact on our country which is made up very significantly of the informal and the formal economy and therefore I think it is something that we will have to be extremely watchful off."

Shroff said, "We have seen a significant slowdown in deal activity starting from February, we do not know what the data for March is but I am assuming it is going to be significantly worse."

"There are sectoral nuances as well, for example, sectors that are likely to be winners as a result of this crisis. We are starting to see more interest and I think those are the sectors which will see a positive opportunity, for example ed-tech, FMCG and healthcare as well whereas some of the traditional areas where we have seen investment coming in."

"We are seeing the exact opposite, for example financial services has fallen dramatically, real estate is in deeper trouble as well."

Shroff further added, "As far as boards are concerned they are thinking about issues of business continuity, they are thinking about issues like liquidity, they are more in a survival mode."

"Independent directors and nominee directors are keeping a watchful eye on governance because many of them are actually seeing situations where because of the stress arising from this crisis, they are seeing governance lapses starting to emerge and they will have to keep an extremely watchful eye that funds are not diverted."

"On a positive note, private equity at least some of the examples that we have seen they are playing an interesting role in terms of providing mentorship and guidance."

"A lot of the promoters are actually looking to private equity for providing guidance, providing insights and sharing experiences from other parts of the world as well as other sections of the market which can give moral confidence to some of their investment portfolio companies."

Krishnan said, "For 2020 the big theme for PE investors is going to be to make sure their portfolio turns resilient to the stress that is all around us."

"Also they have been pragmatic about it that not every company might be in the best position to be able to do so but they are clearly working with their investee companies, whether it is liquidity, whether it is about the workforce, whether it is about potential cyberattacks or whether it is indeed to do about the governance matter, all of these areas are very critical and the intention really is to build resilience in the portfolio."