Davos 2026 | Global capital is shifting from China to India, says Kedaara Capital's Manish Kejriwal

At the World Economic Forum in Davos 2026, Manish Kejriwal, Founder and Managing Partner of Kedaara Capital, highlighted India’s emerging role as a preferred investment destination as global capital reallocates away from China.

In an exclusive interview with  CNBC TV18, Kejriwal said, “There is a significant change in geopolitics. The middle powers, as Mark Carney calls them, should be doing something together, not to fight against, but just to regroup. Trump, to his credit, has done what’s right for MAGA and for America. Their focus is getting jobs back to America, and he has no issues. The rest of the world does what they want to. Connie [Mark Carney] is calling out the other middle powers, basically the rest of the world outside China, Russia and the US, to come together. The world cannot become unipolar again. It’ll be a new type of multipolarity, but a different type.”

On India’s financial landscape, Kejriwal noted that foreign institutional investors remain cautious due to currency movements. “All of us put into our calculations an assumption that the rupee will depreciate between 3 to 5% every year. This year is larger than 3-5%, but as an investor, you can’t do much about that. What you will see from most of us is a gradual slowing down of investments. As far as India is concerned, nothing changes. The India story is really well appreciated. It’s a secular story. Given what’s happening in China and the lack of DPI and returns there, that money is pivoting away from China. As far as pan-Asian funds are concerned, there’s more money coming into India, which is why the larger deals they compete on are getting pricier.”

Kejriwal also addressed deal-making in India, explaining that valuations are the main constraint rather than investor appetite. “The issue involving deals in India are much more related to valuations. The last two years, the level of exit activity has shot up.That pocket of money, which is GP to GP, has seen no slowdown. The actual slowdown is only related to valuations. Most of us tend to push the accelerator on exits and pull back a little on entry valuations.”

On IPOs, Kejriwal observed, “The strength of the IPO is not dependent on foreign capital. It’s benefiting from all the SIP money and all the domestic money. Equity market participation by the retail public is at the tip of the iceberg that will slowly descend. This is a secular flow.”

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He further highlighted trends in promoter exits and sectoral opportunities. “What used to be a sort of sign of shame by selling out is now almost regarded as a sign of smartness. I see a significant amount of first, second, third generation business selling. It’s going to be mostly financial services and consumer sectors that dominate, with tech services and healthcare also providing opportunities. What we are most worried about is quality of teams, management, and ethics.”