Investcorp says demographics & digital transformation makes India a compelling market in long term

Middle East’s largest alternative asset management firm, Bahrain-based Investcorp, which manages over $42 billion in assets globally on Monday said demographics and digital transformation make India a compelling market in the long term.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman of the company said, "The demographics, the digital transformation, the regulatory and political stability, makes India a very good market for us for the long term."

Investcorp has forayed into the alternative investment space in India with the acquisition of IDFC Alternatives in 2019. Since 2017, Investcorp has deployed nearly $500 million in India across private equity & real estate, of which around $260 million is across 13 private equity (PE) investments.

These PE investments include Wingreens, Bewakoof.com, Zolo, Incred, Xpressbees among others. The company hopes to double its current investment in India to $1 billion over a period of time.

Rishi Kapoor, co-CEO at Investcorp said investment strategy will closely mimic the evolution of the aspirational digitally enabled consumer in India,

"So it is not just about the latest electronic gadgets, it is also things like food, healthcare, education, all of these are areas of focus for us. So for us, consumer-based businesses, healthcare-focused businesses, financial services-related businesses, and IT/IT services businesses become the natural go-to destinations in terms of our investment strategy," Kapoor added.

Also, Kiran Vangaveti, founder & CEO of BluSapphire spoke about how the company plans to utilise its Series-A fundraising of $9.2 million. BluSapphire offers a full-stack cyber security platform, which helps automate cyber security operations.