Investor Temasek Plans To Invest $10 Bn In India For Next 3 Years

According to a senior executive, Temasek Holdings intends to increase its exposure to India by investing $2–3 billion yearly over the next two–three years. India is one of the two most favored markets in the world for the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, along with the US.

In an interview with ET, Temasek’s head of strategic initiatives in India, Ravi Lambah, stated, “We plan to invest about $10 billion in India in the next three years as the returns from India have grown phenomenally well in the last few years as compared to markets like China.”

In India, Temasek has invested over $37 billion throughout the last 20 years. Temasek’s exposure to India now accounts for 7% of its underlying assets globally, up from 4% in 2020. In 2023, Temasek invested a record $3 billion in India.

With this set of investments, Temasek will now have a $47 billion exposure to India overall.

Related: Goldman Sachs Planning to Pump An Additional $30-50 Mn In MoEngage Via Secondary Deal

“China has performed less well during the past ten years. We were therefore able to diversify and use the money we generated in China to invest in America, India, and other countries,” according to Lambah. According to him, Temasek has had the best worldwide performance in India over the last ten years.

“In India, the size of investments that you can do, the capital markets, the deal size you can do, have been steadily increasing because the financial markets have been expanding and maturing,” Lambah stated.

He stated that the potential for above-average profits in India justifies its current high values.

“The Indian market has traditionally been regarded higher. It was therefore always necessary to take advantage of market growth and pay a premium. Therefore, if you identified the correct companies, you could outperform that premium valuation and still generate a sizable profit,” according to Lambah.

According to him, Temasek is supporting Indian portfolio companies that intend to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) in order to gain access to a booming primary market.

“So, some of the companies in our portfolio, like Ola, have submitted to become public. As shareholders, we support a company’s efforts to pursue an initial public offering (IPO). We consider the long-term results since we are long-term. that’s all—the IPO price is really one price signal,” he continued.

Temasek has been making investments in the Indian healthcare industry through Sheares Health, its healthcare platform.

For ₹16,500 crore, the company acquired an extra 41% of Manipal Health Enterprises from the promoter family and current investors last year. Temasek now holds a 59% stake overall in Sheares Health, a division of Manipal Health, making it the company’s largest and most powerful shareholder. Afterwards, it sold Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, an 8% share.

As part of its global strategy, Temasek is currently shutting down Sheares Health. The investments in Sheares Health are essentially being wound up and moved to Temasek.

“We believe that there is a tremendous opportunity in healthcare given the demands of the nation. It’s quite enormous,” remarked Lambah.

With The upcoming three year roadmap of investments for Temasek Holdings, the investor is all set to infuse $10 Bn in India. This behemoth fund will go in newer sectors like AI, machine learning and in the sectors which have very high potential such as healthcare, mobility. India and the startup space is poised to experience the ripple effect of such a move from Temasek, thus, there is more good news to come.