Temasek Looking To Invest $10 Bn In Next Three Years To Back India Inc

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek plans to invest $9-10 Bn in India over the next three years, Ravi Lambah, its India head and the head of the investment group, said.

The serial investor is planning to leverage the prevailing rising opportunities in consumer retail, healthcare and environment-friendly businesses, Lambah told Business Standard in an interview on Monday (July 17) in Mumbai. The India head said that Temasek feels that opportunities in India are well-aligned with its investment themes elsewhere in the world.

“With the highest GDP growth globally, combined with a conducive fiscal and monetary policy framework, we are looking to invest $9-10 Bn over the next three years in India, subject to finding the right opportunities,” Lambah said.

Notably, Indian investments account for 6% of the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund net portfolio, estimated to be worth around $287 Bn.

Vishesh Shrivastav, MD of investment (India), said that while Temasek invests around $1 Bn a year in India on average, it has already exceeded its target by a big margin for FY24; the sovereign wealth fund has recently invested $2 Bn in the Manipal Group.

Temasek, an early investor in big-name Indian startups, including Zomato and Ola, also plans to invest in climate-focused areas such as renewable energy and decarbonisation.

The statement comes as Temasek is planning to lead a $300-350 Mn funding round in its portfolio startup Ola Electric. The firm is said to be looking to invest $100-150 Mn in the electric vehicle maker.

Earlier this year, it participated in the INR 300 Cr funding round raised by the edtech unicorn upGrad, investing INR 81 Cr.

The private equity (PE) firm also plans to sell its 20% stake in Tata Play via an initial public offering (IPO) or sell it back to Tata Sons, which owns a majority stake.

Incidentally, Tata Play became the first entity in India to file confidential draft IPO documents, when it did so last year. 

Earlier in July, Vertex Ventures, the venture capital (VC) arm of Temasek, marked the first close of its latest fund, Vertex Master Fund III, at around $900 Mn.

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