Blackstone looking to invest in India’s healthcare, infra sectors

NEW DELHI: India has all the ingredients to become successful and is a top performing geography for Blackstone’s private equity (PE) business, the group’s president Jonathan Gray said on Friday.Speaking at the Economic Times Global Business Summit (GBS), Gray said Blackstone was looking at consumer finance, healthcare, infrastructure sectors in India.“We want to be business builder and community builder in India,” Gray said, adding that Blackstone was looking to accelerate investment in the country in the years ahead.Gray said the government has by and large managed to rein in inflation and fiscal deficit. Growth, he said, was very healthy, which was leading Blackstone to India.“Our longer-term perspective of India is: Picture abhi baaki hai,” he said, adding India was a natural destination for the US private equity, alternative asset management and financial services firm.Performance was the only factor driving growth at Blackstone, he said. “We don’t just invest, we intervene and innovate to help businesses grow.”India is a natural destination for us, Gray added.Gray, however, also pointed out that India was lagging behind not only in physical infrastructure, but also in monetary and legal infrastructure. India needed a more cohesive regulatory infrastructure and faster dispute resolution process, he said.The Blackstone president said that the Narendra Modi government has been doing a lot to clear the hurdles, adding India's infrastructure investment at 10 per cent of GDP was significant, he said.He said India should allow pension funds to invest beyond liquid assets.On the US, he said, the world’s largest economy has slowed some bit, but was still robust.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2It59jO