ET@Davos 2026: ‘India has already arrived, no longer an emerging market,’ says Blackstone CEO Schwarzman

Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, no longer sees India as an emerging market.

“We know this is emerging, and that can’t be said for most of what you call emerging markets,” Blackstone chairman and CEO Stephen A Schwarzman told Sruthijith KK on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Blackstone is currently in the market for an Asia-focused fund.

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and its advances can be compared to the development of electricity and the invention of the steam engine, which took 50 years to transform the world.

“AI will do this in 10 years,” Schwarzman, 78, said in the interview. He acknowledged the hype around AI, with some undercapitalized firms becoming overvalued, but insisted there was no market frenzy, unlike 1999 or 2007.

The exodus of foreign investors from Indian stock markets appears to be in clear contrast to the staying power of private capital.

“I would say the stock markets are extremely emotional and unpredictable. Indian markets have also done great in the last five years,” said the co-founder of Blackstone. “But even within that, there are certain periods when India becomes out of fashion and stocks fall. This is a short-term phenomenon in the long-term bull market for stocks in India.”
He pointed out that India’s potential is huge. “People forget that the gross national product per capita in India is only in the $3,000 range. In the US, we’re over $70,000. In China, it’s roughly $13,000,” he said. “India has a very long growth path and it has a stable government, it needs capital and its population needs to be improved. The population is very smart and hard-working and that is the recipe for a very good future for India.”

The firm plans to expand its presence in India, where it is currently the largest direct foreign investor, in private equity and real estate, as well as infrastructure and private lending.

During the interview, Schwarzman excused himself to take a phone call from his wife, telling her that his wife, their son, and producer Teddy Schwarzman’s film Train Dreams had been nominated for an Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards. “Yes,” he punched the air with joy.