India to make up 5-10% of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan assets in next 15-20 years, CEO says

India will account for 5-10% of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’) assets over the next 15-20 years as the Canadian fund seeks to increase its investments in areas such as infrastructure, healthcare and renewable energy, its CEO told Reuters. tuesday.

OTPP’s current exposure to India is less than 2% of its $240 billion in global assets.

“Our exposure to India will be a very large part of the balance sheet,” chief executive Jo Taylor said in an interview in Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

The fund opened an Indian office in May – its third in the Asia-Pacific region after Singapore and Hong Kong – and plans to hire 10 people by the end of the year.

While global funds and companies have invested billions of dollars in recent years in Indian startups and rapidly growing digital businesses, Taylor signaled that the OTPP would take a different approach.

“I think where we will probably have the most value for India is actually being able to … help build a lot of the infrastructure that India is looking to do,” a- he declared.

The OTPP will also focus on sectors such as healthcare and renewable energy, Taylor said, expanding on recent investments the fund has made in the country.

Although OTPP first bet on an Indian venture in 2016 through Alibaba-backed online retailer Snapdeal, it has made most of its Indian investments in the past year, including $300m each. in the renewable energy assets of conglomerate Mahindra and the takeover of the Sahyadri hospital chain.

Taylor said that while assets in India were more lavishly valued than in some other countries, expectations of faster growth made them more desirable.

“What is interesting and attractive in India is that there is a fairly strong retail market looking for IPO opportunities and that is a major asset for the country,” he said. he declares.