$52M
India portfolio assessed across energy, financial services, and infrastructure
12
investments evaluated across the full portfolio
The Task
Assessing what worked, and designing what comes next.
The EU-based DFI’s India portfolio was delivering real additionality: ESG improvements, governance strengthening, positive signalling effects for portfolio companies. But individual impact without strategic coherence had put constraints on scale. No defined India focus, limited local presence, and grant-supported companies rarely converting into an investment pipeline meant the portfolio was less than the sum of its parts.
The mandate: assess investment performance and additionality across the $52M portfolio, evaluate the effectiveness of grant support for enabling market entry, benchmark against peer DFIs, and develop practical recommendations grounded in how India’s investment landscape actually operates.
The Approach
Market-grounded assessment across four steps.
Step 01
Stakeholder consultations
Structured interviews evaluating how effectively early-stage support had enabled market entry, and where the conversion to investment pipeline had broken down.
Step 02
Interviews with grant recipients
Structured interviews evaluating how effectively early-stage support had enabled market entry, and where the conversion to investment pipeline had broken down.
Step 03
Peer DFI benchmarking
Assessment of positioning, strategy, and operating models of peer DFIs active in India, to understand where the client’s approach was differentiated and where it was losing ground.
Step 04
Portfolio analysis
Identification of patterns in sector focus, instrument mix, and scalability across 12 investments, covering financial and non-financial additionality including ESG, governance, and market signalling.
The Analysis
A comprehensive paper with the collective voice of EU industry in India and a roadmap for policy and reform discussions.
Four structural gaps were constraining scale. What was holding the DFI back was a lack of a defined strategy for the Indian market. Grant-supported companies were rarely converting into investment opportunities. With no sustained local presence, the DFI’s ability to get deals and build in-depth relationships was limited. On top of this, fragmentation between funding instruments reduces overall portfolio coherence.
Lack of local presence emerged as the most consequential gap, not just for sourcing deals, but for sustained relationships that enable effective governance and ESG support over time.
The Outcome
From a collection of investments to a coherent India strategy.
India as a priority market
A clear sector focus to move from opportunistic deal selection to a deliberate investment thesis.
Calibrated local presence
A structured approach to building on-the-ground relationships essential for deal sourcing, portfolio management, and non-financial additionality at scale.
Grant-to-investment pipeline linkages
A framework to strengthen the conversion pathway from grant-supported early-stage companies into bankable investment opportunities.
Expanded product flexibility
Moving beyond debt instruments to match the full range of investment opportunities in the Indian market.
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