Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran eyes Amazon-like joint ventures in precision manufacturing

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Catamaran, the family office of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy and his wife Sudha Murthy, is eyeing joint ventures (JVs), aiming to replicate the success it had with global majors like Amazon and Aon, with precision manufacturing companies and help domestic or international firms scale in India, senior executives told Moneycontrol in an interview.

Back in 2014, Catamaran and Amazon had jointly set up Cloudtail as a 51:49 partnership. Over the years, Cloudtail, a platform that trained sellers to sell on Amazon, became one of the top sellers on the e-commerce platform.

While the JV operated successfully, the two parties announced in 2021 they were shutting down Cloudtail due to an evolving regulatory landscape and changing e-commerce rules. Despite the short life of the business, the Murthys netted over $110 million (around Rs 915 crore) in profits in eight years on an investment of Rs $50 million (Rs 417 crore) from the JV, as per reports, which has likely nudged the family office to look for similar propositions.

Cut to 2025, precision manufacturing is a key theme for Catamaran because of its foundational belief: partnering at the leading edge of technology and bringing that know-how to India, while creating jobs and value.

“Think about…the Amazon JV — bringing a global platform, building locally, and creating jobs. We want to do the same in precision manufacturing. But we don’t want to play just in original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or high-volume, low-margin businesses. We want to build the supply chain,” Ranganath MD, Chairman at Catamaran told Moneycontrol in an interview.

Even in precision manufacturing, Catamaran will focus largely on precision manufacturing across Electric vehicle (EV) supply chains, electronics, aerospace and more.

“But we’re clear: we don’t claim to know manufacturing better than domain experts. If we do a JV in this space, it’ll probably be a three-way partnership,” Ranganath MD added.

Asked how a three-way partnership will work, he said: “Catamaran will bring the capital and India know-how, the Indian promoter brings local expertise and a third partner will bring global manufacturing tech and process knowledge.”

While Catamaran has already invested in Sedemac, a Pune-based automotive electronic and electrical component maker, and Aequs, a Bellary-based contract manufacturing firm for consumer durable goods and aerospace parts, it is looking to deepen its manufacturing play, with more involvement – through JVs.

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Apart from those, the family office has also invested in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Acko, NSE, Udemy and more. In all, it has $1.3 billion in assets under management (AUM).

Asked why Catamaran does not want to be a mere funder of manufacturing companies, like other venture capitalists, Deepak Padaki, President of the family office said the timelines these companies require are longer.

“Precision manufacturing is not a VC game — it's a long gestation game. Founders in this space prefer family office capital because it (the capital) is patient. We provide stability through their IPO journey, and if it’s a good company, we don’t need to exit post-IPO,” Padaki said.

“So yes, if an Indian player has international collaborations or aspirations—and we can help with capital or scale — we're open.”

Y2K moment

Over the past months, Catamaran has also been engaging with companies in other countries and while it has not advanced on any deal yet, the sentiment around manufacturing in India is turning positive, Chairman Ranganath MD said.

Global tech titans like Apple going down the supply chain in India has also provided comfort for companies looking to manufacture in India.

Apart from that, the whole diversification away from China is also helping India. “Of course, people will not shift 100% overnight. But I think even if a certain percentage shifts out of China, India is a destination that can capture it,” Ranganath MD said.

“We're looking for a Y2K moment for precision manufacturing here in India,” Ranganath MD concluded.