Blackstone COO picks India as top investment destination: 'Massive infra push, rising middle class'

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Blackstone President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Gray has identified India as one of the most attractive investment destinations globally, calling it "the fastest growing country in the G10." Speaking at a recent address, Gray said India's strong economic fundamentals, expanding middle class, and infrastructure push make it a compelling longterm bet for global investors.During his address, he listed what he sees as some of the most best places to invest in. "The first stop I've got is commercial real estate. It's been three and a half very tough years for commercial real estate, but now this good dynamic has taken over, which is new supply has declined by nearly 70%, in this case in US logistics, but it's really happening around the world. Cost of capital is coming down, assets have been repriced, this is the time you want to be an investor in commercial real estate," Gray said. He named three key areas - real estate, secondary markets, and India - as the strongest prospects. "Next up, secondaries. Another industry that has grown a ton, from $23 billion to $200 billion over the last 15 years. Again, the concern, has this gotten too big? But I would point out, it's just one and a half percent of outstanding AUM that is trading hands. That compares to 100% of the stock market by value that trades hands. That's why we believe that discounts and secondaries will continue to persist," he said. Turning to India, Gray said:

"Third stop, India. This is the G10, clearly the fastest-growing country. There's been some tension geopolitically recently, but this is a country that is investing massively in physical infrastructure, legal capital markets infrastructure. There is a rising middle class here. This is a place we particularly like."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week revised India's GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.6%, up from its earlier estimate of 6.4%, citing "strong growth offsetting the impact of U.S. tariffs on Indian shipments." In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF pegged next year's growth at 6.2%.  At a recent regional briefing, IMF Asia and Pacific Department Director Krishna Srinivasan said India's fundamentals remain strong but stressed the need for deeper reforms. "Many things are working in India’s favour," Srinivasan said. "But to achieve the government's 'Viksit Bharat' goal of becoming a developed economy, India has to fire all cylinders to reach 8% or more growth." "India needs to focus on pre-liberalisation reforms if it wants to position itself more competitively with China," he added, while calling for "diversifying export markets to reduce external vulnerabilities."