‘Everything doesn’t have to be always online’

RAVI LAMBAH, HEAD, STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND INDIA OPERATIONS, TEMASEK

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Temasek, which is looking to invest $10 billion in India over the next three years if the right deals come its way, is betting big on the consumption space. Ravi Lambah, who heads the India operations and strategic initiatives at Temasek, tells Raghavendra Kamath and Shobhana Subramanian that while valuations in India may be a few standard deviations higher than in other markets, the growth is here and efficiency is being created.

Lambah believes one is seeing a whole new paradigm in India which is creating opportunities. Excerpts:

Where are the opportunities in India today?

We've been here for more than 20 years and about 30-40% of our portfolio is in financial services, primarily banks, as well as newer areas like insurance, which is just taking off. We’ve also put money in telecom, healthcare, consumer, and tech. We are basically underwriting the Indian consumer. As the economy grows from roughly $3 trillion to $5 trillion, the gains will come from consumption and flow to consumption.

Within the consumer space, which are the exciting spots?

There are two main areas that we look at in the consumer space: on the tech side, such as in Eternal or Policybazaar where we invested early on when they were pre-IPO startups; and on the branded side, for example our investment in Haldiram's. We would like to do more in brands if we can get them at the right price. We like brands that are well known to a broad consumer base, and we also see luxury brands developing in India. We think retail is growing, both offline and online, and so we will try and do more in retail where we haven't done as much, including the infrastructure that makes omnichannel work.

There is high aggregate demand in some sectors but profits are split across players...