Many global investors go slow on India pvt credit

PRIVATE CREDIT MAY be the buzz-word in the investing world, but many bulge bracket investors have remained tight-fisted as far as the Indian markets are concerned.

- RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH

While those like Carlyle Group, SoftBank and CDPQ, who were exploring an entry into the Indian private credit market, have kept away so far, existing ones such as KKR and Goldman Sachs are going slow on it.

The reason for the limited large deals ranges from improved returns in the US to the booming equity markets in India. Besides, the high hedging costs and country risk are making only high-yield investors in distressed assets to cut big debt deals in the country.

US-based Carlyle Group, for instance, studied the market for some time and was reportedly in the process of appointing an India head for its credit business. But it is yet to make any deal in the credit space here, said an investment banker. An email sent to Carlyle Group did not elicit any response.

Carlyle's global credit platform manages $150 billion in assets.

Japanese investor SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages two Vision Funds, was also exploring a private credit strategy that provides debt or debt-like structured financing for late-stage tech startups.

According to sources in the know, the investor is yet to make any such deals in the Indian market. An email sent to SoftBank did not get any response.