India looking for global investors in infrastructure: LSE CEO

The Dollar Business Bureau 

With a huge demand for investment in the infrastructure, India is looking for investors globally and London would prove to be natural destination, said Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive Officer, London Stock Exchange (LSE).

“So, India is a fastest growing economy in G-20, growing at 7% a year. There is huge demand for infrastructure investment in India, and it is going global and looking for global investors and London is proving to be natural place for it,” Rathi said.

The LSE witnessed the listing of Rs.7,000 crore worth of bonds on Thursday and Friday.

India’s Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has launched NHAI bonds worth Rs.5,000 crore on Thursday.

Piyush Goyal, Power, Coal and Renewable Energy Minister, has launched the trading of papers on Friday worth Rs.2,000 crore from NTPC - the country’s largest power generation company.

“We have witnessed that there is progress built in the last few years. More investment being raised at low prices for directly investing in Indian infrastructure, be it in the power, renewable energy, housing or roads. Indian firms are finding a welcome opening,” he said.

Rathi stated that power sector in India is one of the fastest growing power sectors in the world, while adding that India will certainly attain its ambitious target of 175 GW of renewable energy.

He emphasised that the investors are recognising that the growth story of India is highly exciting, and are looking towards platforms, such as LSE, which have global reach to offer access to such opportunities.

The Government of India believes that London will remain a leading global financial hub and the destination to look forward to for infrastructure financing by India, he said.

Rathi said that they are global and have huge number of investors from the US, the Europe, Asia and Middle East.

“We are seeing that recurring issuance coming from Indian bond issues. We have a very large US manager coming to our market. So, we are global and that will continue to be the case,” he said.