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Warburg Pincus expects to deploy $8b over next decade in India

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Warburg Pincus believes it will invest at least $8 billion in India in the next decade as the country’s entrepreneurs continue to mature.

The firm's co-CEOs Charles Kaye (pictured) and Joe Landy told The Economic Times that while Warburg Pincus does not believe in setting numerical targets, they expect to deploy twice as much capital in India over the next 10 years as the nearly $4 billion invested over the previous 20. Financial inclusion, energy and logistics are among the themes they expect to be key in the coming years.

Kaye and Landy noted the caliber of talent available in India as a particularly attractive feature of the country, both on the employee level and among company founders. In particular, they consider the quality of India's entrepreneurs to be ahead of any other emerging market, and see successive generations of entrepreneurs growing in talent and vision. 

"We are fully focused on growth, and do not have a control or leveraged mentality but rather a growth, partnership building mentality," Landy said. "India is a place to respect people — not only when people and businesses are flourishing, but also in difficult times."

The two executives also pointed out a number of challenges facing businesses in India, primarily legacy issues around land and labor shortages, but expressed confidence that the country's political leaders understand the difficulties and are working to address them.

Warburg Pincus is credited with helping establish India as a destination for private equity following its landmark 2005 exit from Bharti Airtel for $1.83 billion, a major profit on an original $290 million investment. The firm's second-largest India exit was Kotak Mahindra Bank, which it sold for a reported 4x multiple in 2012.

In the past year the GP has made several investments in logistics, including a commitment of up to $125 million in August to supply chain services start-up Stellar Value Chain Solutions. That company went on to make a bolt-on acquisition of refrigerated trucking specialist Kelvin Cold Chain. Warburg Pincus also invested $75 million in trucking company Rivigo last November.

The firm is currently investing out of its latest global fund, which launched in May 2015 and closed the same year at the hard cap of $12 billion.

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