'Fundamentals for long-term growth in India are outstanding': Blackstone's Jonathan Gray

Blackstone, the world's largest alternative investment manager which has an AUM (assets under management) of $975 bn is betting big on India.

The extraordinary performance in India has made the private equity giant bullish and the country can continue to grow at a much faster rate than other parts of the world, President Jonathan Gray said on February 14.

" The fundamentals for long-term growth in India are outstanding. For us in India, the best is yet to come..we control $50bn of assets here," said Gray during a media interaction in Mumbai.

US-based Blackstone, the largest owner of commercial and retail real estate in India, has been investing in India since 2006 and has pumped in $50 bn across sectors ranging from IT services and asset & wealth management to auto components and online learning. The firm has invested roughly half of its Asia exposure in India, though Gray ruled out any India-specific fund for now.

Blackstone has tasted success in India in IT and real estate but has stayed away from infrastructure. " We will look at India's infrastructure as an opportunity for growth going ahead. But not today," Gray clarified.

Gray believes the Indian government has done a terrific job of making the firm's investment phase easy. "Policy steps on GST, REITs have facilitated capital flows in India," he added.

In November, Blackstone filed draft papers with market regulator SEBI (c) for India’s first-ever pure-play retail mall REIT (real estate investment trust) IPO.

This would be the private equity giant’s third REIT listing in India, following the Embassy REIT and the Mindspace REIT, which made their market debuts earlier.

Also Read: Blackstone files papers for India’s first retail mall REIT listing, targets $500 million Blackstone files papers for India’s first retail mall REIT listing, targets $500 million

Blackstone has $187 bn of dry powder at its disposal globally but Gray highlighted the challenging investment environment.

"It is a tough time to deploy capital from an investment point of view. ( We) will continue to see a slowdown in the global economy and it will be a choppy year," he said.

Interestingly, Blackstone, which has made a name as a buyout fund, is now open to non-control transactions in India. Mumbai-based Amit Dixit, Head of Asia for Blackstone Private Equity said the private equity fund will look at minority investments in high-growth companies.

The firm's domestic leadership team also includes Tuhin Parikh, Amit Dalmia, Asheesh Mohta and Mukesh Mehta.

India is the top-performing market globally for Blackstone Private Equity with investments in Mphasis, VFS, TaskUs, IBS Software, Xpressbees, and Simplilearn. The firm sold Aakash Educational Services to edtech major Byju's last year.