Having made multi-million dollar bets on Indian startups like Snapdeal and Ola, SoftBank on Friday exuded confidence in ‘surpassing’ its stated $10 billion investment commitment in India as it looks for newer opportunities in the country.
SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, who called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, said, ‘India has the best opportunity’ given the democratic form of governance, huge population base and rapid pace of adoption of new technologies. “This is the country with such a large population, this is a country which is a democracy, many of you speak English, this is the country where I think new technology is going to happen and new excitement is coming. This is the country where I am very much interested in investing,” Son said at the HT leadership Summit here.
He added that the Japanese conglomerate has already invested $2 billion in India in the last few years. The company, in 2014, had committed to investing $10 billion in 10 years in India. “I am a man to keep my words. We have already invested $2 billion in the last couple of years. Eight more years to go. I am going to surpass my word on the commitment,” he said.