London-based CDC Group, the development finance institution of the British government, aims to invest $1.7 billion in India and the broader South Asia region over the next three years. A large part of that investment will go to Indian businesses as CDC is looking to double its India portfolio by 2021, according to CDC Group’s chief executive Nick O’Donohoe.
In India, the firm’s focus has been on investing in disruptive businesses that are solving problems at scale, and which support technology innovation in key development sectors such as healthcare, education, financial institutions, food and agribusiness, and clean energy projects, among others.
India has the third-largest base for technology startups worldwide. According to O’Donohoe the three main enablers of this growth are:
- The second-largest internet user base in the world with more than two-thirds of Internet traffic being accessed via mobiles
- A large market that is underserved — both for consumers and businesses
- A driven entrepreneurial culture that leverages technology to solve India’s pressing problems — an entrepreneur no longer needs bank loans to set up a business but can bootstrap until he/she raises venture capital funding
“We’ve seen technology have a positive impact on sectors such as healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and logistics. But, unlike in developed markets where the economics of the Internet favor large established companies like Amazon and Google, in markets such as India, tech-enabled platforms such as B2B marketplaces and aggregators level the playing field for small and medium enterprises (that account for 40% of India’s workforce) operating in largely fragmented and informal sectors,” O’Donohoe noted.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
