CapitaLand Investment to double investments in India by 2028

CAPITALAND Investment (CLI) aims to more than double its funds under management (FUM) in India in the next four years, as the global real asset manager remains optimistic on the country’s economic growth.

On Wednesday (Sep 4), CLI said the increase would contribute to the group’s global target of achieving S$200 billion in FUM by 2028. As at end-June, its India portfolio has S$7.4 billion in FUM.

CLI debuted in India’s business parks space 30 years ago and it now has more than 40 IT and business parks, industrial, logistics, lodging and data centre assets in its portfolio.

Group chief executive officer Lee Chee Koon highlighted that India has been one of its fastest-growing markets, where its investments have tripled in the last seven years.

He also expects demand for quality real assets from global corporations and institutional investors will grow.

This comes as India’s gross domestic product is projected to grow 7 per cent this year, and it is on track to becoming the world’s third-largest economy in the next five years, said Lee.

CLI also noted that it plans to grow and diversify its income streams by entering into new business segments in India, such as renewable energy and real estate private credit.

Real estate private credit is garnering interest from institutional investors, said the group. Buoyed by the rising demand for residential construction finance, the debt market in Indian real estate has a potential US$170 billion financing opportunity between 2024 and 2026, noted CLI.

Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO of CLI India, said the group will drive growth through its listed CapitaLand India Trust (Clint) and private funds, such as Ascendas India Growth Programme.

Looking ahead, CLI said it wants to expand its business and IT parks, as well as logistics and industrial portfolios in India.

For its business and IT parks portfolio, CLI said it will undertake forward purchase acquisitions and secure prime assets to ensure a robust pipeline.

It will also raise third-party capital through new private funds, as well as enter into joint development and joint ventures with capital partners, along with commercial management partnerships.

Amid rising demand for high-quality logistics and industrial infrastructure, CLI plans to grow its logistics and industrial portfolio by seeding new private funds and through Clint.

CLI, which currently owns 16 industrial and logistics assets in India, said it will do so by signing joint development agreements and entering into joint venture partnerships.

Additionally, Dasgupta said the group is positive on growing opportunities for data centre funds as India becomes a digital economy.

The real asset manager entered India’s data centre market in 2021 amid rising demand for data. It is developing four data centres across cities such as Mumbai and Chennai. Its data centres in Navi Mumbai and Hyderabad are slated to start operations in 2025.

Lastly, CLI also said it wants to expand its lodging portfolio – The Ascott Limited – to 5,000 rooms across 15 properties in India.

Shares of CLI were trading down 0.7 per cent or S$0.02 at S$2.76 as at 1.35 pm on Wednesday.