Singapore’s global investment firm Temasek is “optimistic” about India and aims to invest around $10 billion over the next three years, the company’s managing director for investments in India Vishesh Shrivastav said.
Shrivastav said India has delivered the highest returns for the company in the last decade.
As of March 2024, the overall India exposure for the entity which has been present in the country for nearly two decades, was $37 billion, he said, adding that in the last decade, India has delivered the highest returns.
“We are quite optimistic about the geography… we like what we see here and the intent is to do more,” Shrivastav told PTI.
About the upward revision on the company’s investment target, he said there is no cap or even a floor when it comes to India and the entity, which invests off its own balance sheet, will allocate capital as and when it is needed.
When asked if high valuations in India are a concern, he said valuation is not the only aspect on which the investment decisions are made and added that there are other themes as well.
The onus is on the team to find the right opportunities and be disciplined, he said, and added that as of today, Temasek sees a potential of investing up to $10 billion over the next three years.
When a lot of capital is chasing too few companies, the price goes up, he said, adding that “it becomes tougher to find the next opportunity when public markets (are high). We’ve to do our jobs well to find the right opportunities.”
Responding to a question about risks in India, he called out high valuations as the “most important” one, and added that any potential instability in policymaking and the impact due to geopolitics or global events is also a worry.
“On the domestic side, anything that brings about instability in policy-making, if interest rates are not kept at the right place, if inflation is allowed to rise too much, those would be the risks. Most important will be valuations. If we invest in companies that are not valued fairly then even if the business does well, we will not make a commensurate return,” he said.
According to Shrivastav, Temasek’s investments in the country are governed by the key themes of digitization, rising consumption, longer lifespans and sustainable living.
Last year the company invested $3 billion, accounting for 7% of the overall global exposure, up from 4% in 2020.
Shrivastav termed the Indian regulatory system as the best globally, and said watchdogs take supervisory actions against errant entities in the interest of long-term stability of the system.
Temasek, a global investment company, has an investment portfolio worth around $290 billion.
Edited by Jyoti Narayan
