US private equity giant Blackstone Group said Wednesday it expects to double its India investments to up to three billion dollars over the next five years.
The company aims to target infrastructure and the fast-growing consumer sectors, said Akhil Gupta, chairman and managing director of Blackstone Advisors India Pvt. Ltd.
“We are looking at two dominant themes: infrastructure, which includes ports, power and roads, and domestic consumption, like media (and) retail,” he told reporters.
Over a five-year period beginning in September 2005, Blackstone has invested 1.25 billion dollars in India, of which 360 million dollars was earmarked for the power sector, Gupta said.
It plans to invest as much as three billion dollars there in the next five years, including one billion dollars in power companies, Gupta said.
Gupta's comments came as the firm said it would pick up a “significant” minority stake in India's Moser Baer Projects for 300 million dollars.
Moser Baer Projects was established by entrepreneur Deepak Puri, who controls compact disc maker Moser Baer India. It is to use the Blackstone investment to finance planned power plants.
Huge investments are needed in the power sector as India ramps up generation capacity to supply electricity to millions of rural households while meeting growing demand from industries and urban consumers.
India aims to boost power generating capacity by 75 percent by 2017 to propel economic growth, but the country has consistently missed its power addition targets.
It aims to attract 514 billion dollars in infrastructure investments under a five-year economic plan that ends in March 2012, while also aiming to draw foreign capital through regulatory changes and incentives to boost infrastructure funding.
Investment house Morgan Stanley has said that India should start matching China's 8.5 percent to 9.5 percent annual gross domestic product growth, barring another global financial crisis.
But this rapid growth calls for significant infrastructure improvements.
Source: AFP