'Baseline for India very good': Blackstone's Schwarzman on Modi-Trump meeting and trade talks

Blackstone CEO

World’s largest asset manager Blackstone’s CEO Stephen Schwarzman sees India’s trade negotiations with America as having a strong foundation, with the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump over a trade agreement ‘a great start’.

Schwarzman spoke exclusively to Moneycontrol on March 12, and backed India as a ‘strong contender’ in the China + 1 strategy.

"Prime Minister Modi and the President had a very good meeting, which is a great start. And they agreed to have a trade agreement between the two countries. And they also made some other mutual understandings, evidently, at that meeting. I think the baseline for India seems to me to be very good," Schwarzman said, while speaking to Network18's Group Consulting Editor Bodhisatva Ganguli in Mumbai.

On PM Modi and President Trump's meeting in February this year, Schwarzman said the two countries have a lot in common. "There's a favorable attitude, each country to the other one. And I think you just sort of start with the discussion. Evidently, there's already been a number of adjustments that the two countries have made. I know there's always a high level of anxiety when anybody brings this subject up. I think the quality of your leadership in India and the ability to reach agreements should be very good."

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The US alternative investment management group Blackstone aims to double its total exposure in India to $100 billion in the future, Schwarzman said. "We spend our time building businesses in India, to make India better…We are rapidly growing in India. We are the largest foreign company in the country. We are the largest private equity firm here.”

Schwarzman also said that China’s difficult times proved to be a great opportunity for India. “India became sort of top of mind for the business community as an alternative…And I think it's important that India capitalizes on that opportunity. It's got sort of low-cost labor, smart people. It's got some challenges with logistics in the internal infrastructure compared to China. But there is a sort of a curiosity about India now. You must look at it if you're a corporate executive that's manufacturing offshore. And so, it should work out quite well for India," he said.