 "India final frontier for investment, says SoftBank official")
India is the "final frontier" for investment and SoftBank looks to invest in new technology areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning in the country, a top official of the Japanese Internet giant said.
Calling India the "final frontier for investment", SoftBank Group International MD Deep Nishar said the group is looking to invest in new technology areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning in the country.
SoftBank, which has pumped in over $2 billion in Indian startups like Snapdeal and Ola, is confident of surpassing its stated $10 billion investment commitment in India.
"We continue to be very bullish about on Indian TMT space, the consumer tech, there are a lot of opportunities there. I think the new tech in artificial intelligence and machine learning.. I am starting to see some companies come there as well. That is something we are looking to as well," he said.
Indian businesses do not have to worry about others "eating their lunch" given the country's prowess in technology and entrepreneurship, the former LinkedIn executive said.
"We don't have to worry about somebody else coming and eating our lunch. We should be asking the world to put us on a equal footing. We can take on anybody, anywhere, we will give a great fight," he said when asked about industry concerns after Donald Trump's victory in US Presidential polls.
Nishar said while there are political rhetoric that come up during election campaigns, governments do what is in the best economic interest of the country.
"And I think that the US government despite the rhetoric... Will take a point of view that will be in the best economic interest of the country," he said.
Nishar added that in the past few days, he has spent time talking to SoftBank's current portfolio companies as well as potential new ones.
"India is sort of like the final frontier for investment. I remain very bullish. I don't think we are going to see mass exits in the next one or two years... Now we are not talking about valuation, now every entrepreneur is talking about value creation, that's great," he said.
