Korea’s KIC opens Mumbai office to spur emerging market investment

Sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) said on Monday it has launched its Mumbai office, establishing the state-run fund’s first local presence in emerging markets.

The new office in Asia’s third-largest economy will focus on financial markets research, deal sourcing, supporting alternative investments of investment opportunities and deal sourcing, supporting the Seoul headquarters’ alternative investments and strengthening networks in India, KIC said.

“The Mumbai office will become an integral part of KIC’s sustainable growth by capturing new investment opportunities in the world’s fastest-growing economy, primarily in the private equity, venture capital, real estate and infrastructure markets,” KIC Chief Executive Jin Seoungho said.

The sovereign wealth fund sees high potential in fast-growing economies in Asia, including India, the CEO said last April at a meeting with Korean journalists. The Mumbai affiliate is KIC’s fifth overseas office in addition to operations in New York, London, Singapore and San Francisco.

Global institutional investors are accelerating their investments in India. Canada's Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTTP) and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) opened local offices in the South Asian country in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Last September, the Saudi Arabian government said it was considering setting up an office of its Public Investment Fund (PIF) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City in India. 

KIC logged a 7.12% return on total asset investments for the first eight months of the last year, recouping about 40% of the record loss of $27.9 billion posted for the full year of 2022. Last year’s recovery was mainly driven by equity and bond gains, KIC said last November.

KIC undisclosed the alternative investment return for the first eight months of last. But the fund noted that its annualized return on alternative assets since its first alternative investment in 2009 dropped to 8.06% as of the end of last August from 8.23% as of the end of 2022.

Write to Byeong-Hwa Ryu at hwahwa@hankyung.com


Jihyun Kim edited this article.