India to see $35-40 billion in ‘impact’ investments by 2025

NEW DELHI: India is projected to see impact investments worth up to $40 billion by 2025 as the country is in a "sweet spot" with high potential to deliver solutions for various problems, according to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), a not-for-profit group that works to promote impact investments. Generally, Impact investments are generally classified as those made with the aim of having a social and environmental impact along with the investors’ financial returns.

GIIN's Advisor for South Asia, Anil Sinha said there had been tremendous development in India around impact investing activities in the last five years, and that India was is in a sweet spot.

"In India, about US$4 billion has been invested as part of impact investments in five years,” Sinha said. “India is a place where poverty is high, but the potential to deliver solutions is also very high.

"We hope there will be 25 per cent annual growth rate as (impact investments) grow - and it might grow from US$4 billion to US$35-40 billion in India by 2025," he said.

Globally, total assets under management by impact investors is estimated to be about $ 70 billion, according to Sinha.

The financial returns on impact investments is estimated to be around 10 per cent annually.
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