Chip Kaye’s Indian passion

Long before India became synonymous with global outsourcing, Chip Kaye was scouting private equity deals on the Asian subcontinent. Now the co-president of $14 billion-in-assets private equity giant Warburg Pincus will use his knowledge as the new chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council.

Long before India became synonymous with global outsourcing, Chip Kaye was racking up air miles scouting private equity deals on the Asian subcontinent. Now the co-president of $14 billion-in-assets private equity giant Warburg Pincus will use his knowledge as the new chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council. The organization’s members include the top 125 U.S. companies with investments in India -- among them, American Express and Morgan Stanley.

From Kaye’s perspective there could be no better time to facilitate business exchange between the two countries: India’s economic infrastructure is rapidly developing, and the government is slowly lowering its barriers to foreign investment. With nearly $1 billion in Indian investments, Warburg Pincus is one of the biggest private equity players in the country.

“I have a passion for India,” says Kaye, 40. “I’ve spent a lot of time there, and it’s amazing to see how much has changed over the past ten years.”

One example: When Warburg Pincus invested in Indian mobile phone concern Bharti Tele-Ventures in 1999, the company had about 100,000 customers, mostly in New Delhi. Now it has more than 10 million across the country.

Kaye succeeds Rajat Gupta (a senior partner at McKinsey) as chairman of the council, which was formed 30 years ago by thensecretary of State Henry Kissinger to promote private sector economic exchanges between the two countries. As for that other Asian powerhouse that benefited from Kissinger’s attentions, Kaye doesn’t see China crowding out opportunity in India anytime soon. “Both will prosper,” he says. “Economic development is being fueled, in part, by each other’s growth.”

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