MUMBAI: Singapore’s state-owned investor Temasek is expanding the scope of its investments in India, a market where it has traditionally focused on the consumer, financial services and healthcare sectors.Indian executives at the company said the company will bet on sectors like industrial as the country steps up its manufacturing game and opportunities in AI. The deal pipeline remains strong, even as the company is taking into account near-term uncertainties arising from the Middle East war as they consider new investments.“There will always be years when you will have some geopolitics, some external shocks that will affect the country. But we look beyond the near-term uncertainties. The disruption in the last two quarters does not necessarily require us to change our investment process. India is one of the best performing markets for Temasek. We will continue to deploy capital wherever we see good opportunities,” Mohit Bhandari and Ved Prakash Kalanoriya, India MDs of Temasek Global Investments, said in an interview.He said the company’s local portfolio has grown more than four times in a decade and the total size is expected to reach $42 billion by March 2026.Temasek has deployed about $9 billion in India in the last three years and aims to match the amount in the coming three years.The firm’s strategy of building its core portfolio in consumer, health care and financial services—sectors that depend on domestic consumption for growth—has been successful as it shields the firm against global macro-volatility.“Strategically, we want to invest in companies that benefit from some domestic headwinds,” Kalanoria said. Temasek, which bought a 9-10% minority stake in Haldiram Snack Foods last year and valued the company at $10 billion, said within consumer, it would focus on staple-oriented regional brands as well as brands catering to discretionary spending.Temasek’s investments in India span across traditional and new-age companies including ICICI Bank, Eternal, Lenskart and Skyroot Aerospace.Two of its portfolio firms, NSE and Manipal Health Enterprises, are headed for mega billion-dollar public listings this year. Bhandari and Kalanoriya did not comment on IPO valuations, but said that generally, public markets are now trading in line with long-term averages.The company aims to increase its AI-related exposure from 6% of its portfolio value to 15% by 2031, which will pursue AI firms building in the infrastructure and application layers.Officials said, “There will be companies that over time will start to benefit from having an application layer on top of multiple services or infrastructure layers. We will try and see if we can partner with some of those companies that are going to benefit from the trend of AI adoption.”
