Businessworld has published an interview with the Akhil Gupta, head of the Blackstone Group’s Indian operations:
Which sectors do you find most attractive in India now?
We are looking at companies across all sectors. As big-ticket players, we will not look at any deal below $25 million. The BPO space for private equity participation is saturated. Thus, going ahead, one might see a lot of private equity participation in pharmaceuticals, real estate, export and infrastructure.What is Blackstone’s USP vis-a-vis other private equity players in India?
A clear differentiator is that we will only do the big-ticket deals. Second, we have the largest portfolio companies as compared to our colleagues in the private equity space. So we position ourselves as catalysts for cross-border activities and as partners for growth over a long term. Even for a sector like telecom, which is essentially local in nature, we bring in our global expertise about process knowhow, etc., to enhance performance. We will be performance-driven at any stage of our partnership.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder of Venture Intelligence India, which tracks venture capital activity in India and Indian-founded companies worldwide. View sample issues of TSJ Media’s Venture Intelligence India newsletters and reports.
