Mumbai, Sept. 8 -- Lightspeed India, which has backed startups such as Razorpay, Sarvam and Oyo, expects to realise about $500 million in cash returns by the end of this year, driven by a broadening exit landscape, a top executive at the venture capital firm said.

The figure spans exits through private secondaries, mergers and acquisitions, block deals and initial public offerings over a 3.5-4 year horizon, Anuj Bhargava, managing director and head of corporate and strategic development for India and Southeast Asia, told Mint in an interview.

This comes at a time when limited partners (LPs), who invest in venture capital and private equity funds, are placing greater importance on actual distributions rather than paper returns before com...