Webinar: Opportunities for Investment in India
On 25 August, the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) hosted a webinar discussing investment opportunities in India. Chaired by UKIBC Associate Director Daxa Bharadwa and UKIBC Director Chris Heyes, the session was led by industry experts Avinash Vazirani, Fund Management Director, Jupiter Asset Management; Pramod Kumar, Managing Director and Head of Banking in India, Barclays; and Nandita Sahgal-Tully, Managing Director – Infrastructure Asset Management, ThomasLloyd Group.
Avinash began his presentation by highlighting India’s ongoing economic recovery and the significant regulatory developments in India. He then examined three key opportunities for investment – digital technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure, which includes healthcare.
There have been significant technological developments in India with increasing access to the internet; a few of which include total population, mobile subscriptions, internet users, social media users, and e-commerce shoppers.
The manufacturing industry in India is supported by new schemes, including the government’s Production-Linked Incentive which is relatively more simple than previous schemes and offers 4-6% incentives on incremental sales. Going forward, infrastructure will be a key economic driver with the development of new highways, airports, railway tracks and electricity generation from renewable sources.
Pramod followed by sharing a macroeconomic overview. He addressed the attractive demographics, emphasising the rapid speed at which the Indian economy is growing. Additional attractions in the Indian market include decreasing interest rates and equity market returns.
The Indian market is recovering well from the impact of COVID-19. Pramod added that FDI inflows have risen to an all time high during this time and were driven by strong growth prospects and the steps taken by the Indian government to make FDI policy more investor friendly. Concluding his presentation, Pramod highlighted the robust capital risings as well as the rapid emergence of unicorns.
Nandita focused on the investment opportunities in India from ThomasLloyd’s sustainable real assets perspective, highlighting that the renewable energy transition is the defining investment trend of this century. With the Indian population growth and urbanisation growing at a rapid rate – forecasted to increase by almost 300 million over the next 25 years – there is an increased demand for electricity.
Notably, India has the highest carbon cost of GDP, a staggering 911 Mt per trillion dollars of GDP, in Asia. Nandita shared the investment case for renewable energy in India as well as its real impact and alignment to the global goals for sustainable development. Concluding her presentation, she detailed the supportive long-term macro backdrop for renewable investments in India and expressed confidence in India’s ability to successfully implement clean energy.
Many thanks to the skilled business leaders for providing their time and resources for this webinar. If you were unable to join our session on the day, or would like to go through the webcast again, we invite you to watch the webinar below for the discussion in full.
