Temasek sees potential to up India investment to around $9 billion in next 3 years

Temasek is bullish on India and expects to invest three times of its usual investments per year if it finds the right opportunity, its India Head, Ravi Lambah told CNBC-TV18.

“India is well positioned, India is the fastest growing economy in the world and our India portfolio has done well. It has benefitted from several structural benefits that we see. We have been deploying $1 billion every year. In the next three years, we see ourselves upping that to $9 billion if we find good opportunities,” Lambah said.

On the valuation drop in digital companies, Temasek maintains that there is potential to invest in promising business models. Lambah said, “Intrinsic Value Test shows many of them are viable, we have done some follow on in our existing portfolio companies. It's a reset in valuation but not a reset in the potential of the business. The potential runway is still long whether it is e-commerce or fintech, all of them are benefitting from the digitisation India stack and we are trying to double down on opportunities where potential continues to look good.”

Temasek is said to be investing more in debt-laden PharmEasy and even bringing in strategic investment as part of the deal, Lambah said, “Where we are part of the solution it means that we believe in the long-term potential of the company. Strategic involvement, M&A and strategic partnership with investors is a theme often repeated in the world and it's a good thing, actually a marriage that brings different disciplines together.”

Temasek has also increased its investment in Ola Electric and it is bullish on the electric vehicle sector. With a large exposure in the financial services sector, it continues to be bullish on the sector with a special interest in banks, insurance and fintech along with its interest in the telecom space.

Temasek maintains that India investments are in line with its global theme of investing in four trends, the future of consumption, life sciences, digitisation and sustainable living.

Temasek with close to $300 billion Net Portfolio Value globally is celebrating its 50th year and has seen a three percent decline in its shareholders’ returns in the last financial year in US dollar value.

Lambah added that aggregation of valuation markdowns across public markets has impacted performance and said, "Ambiguity, complexity, uncertainty is a new world order and we have to navigate this, it is challenging but it also presents opportunities to deploy funds globally."