ET World Leaders Forum: India is set to be a key driver of growth, says David Steinbach

India may be only a small piece of global investment and development firm Hines’ larger pie, but it sees the country as one of the key drivers of growth going forward, David Steinbach, managing partner & global CIO of the firm, said at the event.

The executive said transparency, resilience, inclusiveness and predictability are critical for growth.

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“If India wants to be competitive in this next decade and capture outside market share, stay on transparency-that is a trend you must hold on to, and you’ve been doing very well,” Steinbach said. Building an economy that is reliable, resilient and shock-absorbing is absolutely critical to continue on the path of inclusiveness. “The government would encourage that. It brings stability, and capital wants stability when it invests. But the most important factor is predictability. This is something you must have more of to attract greater capital,” Steinbach said.

Hines came to India about 20 years ago, and it took a lot of vision and faith to establish a platform here. “Any of the things people talked about regarding the possible future of India felt a little like an impressionist painting. You could see the contours, but you couldn’t quite make out exactly how it would happen, and it all seemed rather distant,” he said.

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Read more: PM Modi’s self-reliance call is paying off amid global shifts, says Satyan GajwaniThe firm faced hard days while trying to establish its platform. Hines now has about $100 billion under management and operates in about 30 countries. The company develops projects, acquires assets, raises funds and works directly with investors. “It’s really important, when you think about what is going to happen here in the next decade, to ground yourself in what’s happening around the world. I strongly believe a 40-year chapter has ended. That chapter was marked by globalisation, falling interest rates and lower costs of getting things done,” Steinbach said. “And that created a huge tailwind for capital globally. All of that ended a couple of years ago,” he added.In India, Hines currently has about 20 million sq ft under development and around $3 billion of assets under management. “Nobody working today globally has lived in any environment other than the one we’ve just come out of. That presents a significant opportunity as we think about what lies ahead,” Steinbach said.The Hines executive compared the last 40 years to downhill skiing, and said today it is about creating value on the ground. “It’s cross-country skiing, which is a different sport. That’s how capital will be viewing India in this new world,” he said.



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