Carlyle hires Neeraj Bharadwaj as India MD

Bhardwaj joins from Accel Partners, where he was responsible for making growth capital investments in India. Prior to that, he spent nearly 10 years with Apax Partners, as a partner in the US and then as managing director and country head for India. He was involved in a number of successful investments for Apax, including Apollo Hospitals.

Bhardwaj's appointment strengthens a Carlyle team that last year lost Rajeev Gupta, head of India buyout operations, who went on to set up his own private equity advisory firm.

"We believe the coming years represent a very attractive period to invest in India," said X.D. Yang, a managing director at Carlyle and co-head of Carlyle Asia Partners. "Under the leadership of Neeraj Bharadwaj and Managing Director Devinjit Singh, and with our on the ground team of local professionals, we expect to continue to build our leadership position in India to tap into its fast economic growth and increasing demand for value add private equity investments."

Carlyle is in the process of raising its fourth Asia buyout fund, which is said to have a target size of $3.5 billion, nearly one third larger than its predecessor.

The private equity firm claims to have invested $800 million in India. Recent transactions include the purchase of a 9% stake in domestic brokerage India Infoline Group for around $37.5 million, a $26 million commitment to affordable housing developer Value & Budget Housing Corporation, and a $25 million investment in polymer-emulsion maker Visen Industries.

Carlyle also exited roughly 1% of its stake in mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC) in February, generating around INR13.5 billion ($245 million). It originally purchased a 5.6% holding in the company for $650 million in 2007.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• People
• South Asia
• Buyout
• Appointments
• The Carlyle Group
• India