Blackstone plans to double its investments in India to $100 billion within five years, with chief operating officer Jonathan Gray describing the country as the firm’s best-performing market and expressing confidence in its long-term economic prospects despite recent market weakness.
The US-based investment firm has deployed $50 billion in India and intends to expand across private equity, real estate, infrastructure, credit and growth equity. Gray said global investor sentiment towards India remained “fairly positive”, although rising energy costs, concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and currency depreciation had created challenges.
“After the US, the easiest place to list a company” was how Gray described India’s capital markets, arguing that their depth and liquidity made the country attractive to foreign investors seeking opportunities to sell holdings and return capital to their own investors.
India’s stock market had risen five and a half times over the previous 20 years, he said. In August, Blackstone sold more than $1 billion of stock in Knowledge Realty, a transaction Gray cited as evidence of the market’s capacity to absorb large share sales. He added that liquidity had remained strong despite a recent market pullback.
Gray acknowledged that foreign portfolio investors had withdrawn $37 billion in 2026, but attributed investor caution partly to straightforward market narratives linking India’s energy imports to higher costs and its IT services sector to potential disruption from AI. He said global investors could return if earnings and revenue growth continued, with earnings growth expected to reach the mid-teens in the quarter discussed.
On India’s longer-term prospects, Gray pointed to economic growth of more than 7%, a young population, an expanding middle class and opportunities to develop manufacturing. He described India as likely to remain the fastest-growing major economy for decades, arguing that recent market declines offered long-term investors more attractive entry points.
Blackstone’s investment priorities include housing, healthcare, travel, financial services, renewable energy and digital infrastructure. The firm has invested in AirTrunk, a data-centre business, and Neysa, a cloud computing company, while also identifying opportunities in banking, insurance, wealth management and home lending.
Gray said India’s established IT services industry could help businesses adopt AI by redesigning workflows and implementing technology rather than simply supplying software. He argued that companies in the sector were more adaptable than investors often assumed and could become important partners as enterprises integrate AI into their operations.
He also defended the sustainability of current AI infrastructure spending, saying demand for computing capacity was outpacing supply. Unlike the telecommunications investment boom of the 1990s, when infrastructure was built with borrowed money well ahead of demand, much of the current expansion was being financed by large companies with strong balance sheets, he said.
Blackstone’s experience in India has been shaped by its local leadership and its approach to building businesses, Gray said. The firm has taken 14 companies public in the country and participated in five of its six real estate investment trusts. He said Blackstone had also worked with the Indian government on developing the rules governing REITs.
The firm sees further opportunities as rising incomes encourage households to spend more on travel, healthcare, housing and financial products. Gray cited previous investments in Aadhar, in home lending, and ASK, in wealth management, as examples of businesses positioned to benefit from expanding access to financial services.
He also expressed confidence in India’s ability to absorb substantial private investment. With the economy valued at more than $4 trillion and its stock market at more than $5 trillion, he said the potential pool of investable assets was large enough to accommodate significant capital inflows without forcing Blackstone to lower its investment standards.
Global concerns about private credit had also produced more investor anxiety than actual distress, Gray said. Although returns had moderated, he argued that relatively low leverage and low loan-to-value lending had made the products resilient, and expected private credit to continue gaining market share.
