Blackstone Scouting For Further Investments In India

Continuing to be bullish on India, Global private equity (PE) Blackstone is planning for further investments across infrastructure and real estate sectors.

With investments worth USD 50 billion in India, the PE firm is one of the largest global investors in the country. The PE firm, which has over USD 1 trillion of assets under management, has been investing in India since 2006.

“India has outstanding fundamentals for long-term growth. We’ve had remarkable performance over the years here, and we believe the best is yet to come. It’s still early days for us. The inflation here is relatively constant, and it has a young population as well as more English speakers and engineers than many other countries,” Blackstone’s president & COO Jonathan Gray said in a select press briefing.

The country is on a growth path and is supported by a government that is pro-growth, Gray said, adding, “Our extraordinary performance in India has made us bullish, while the country is moving from an emerging market to a matured market.”

The country is getting tailwinds in the manufacturing sector, with foreign investors keenly looking at it. “However, one headwind would be the slowdown in the information technology sector, where foreign investors are cautious. But that’s a short-term issue,” he said. “India is the anchor to our Asia strategy and we want to do big things here,” he added.

Blackstone, which has a dry powder of about USD 187 billion, is bullish on India’s infrastructure and real estate sectors, and would continue to invest in these sectors. In infrastructure, green energy would be a sector of interest for the company.

The impediments before the country as an investment destination are issues such as currency depreciation, which reduces the dollar returns for foreign investors. The PE firm’s investments in India include Mphasis, VFS, TaskUs, IBS Software, Xpressbees and Simplilearn among others.

Talking on the issues of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country, he said the regulations are relatively “tougher” compared with that of the US. This makes listing and taking a company private difficult.

He, however, ruled out launching an India-specific fund “immediately”. Blackstone investments are currently pooled through its Asia-focused or other broad-based funds.

On investing in stressed assets, Gray said Blackstone is “hesitant” as the bankruptcy laws in the country needed more clarity with firmer timelines.