British International Investment (BII), the UK government-backed development finance institution, has appointed a former partner at impact investment firm Omidyar Network as its India head.
The appointment of Shilpa Kumar as the managing director and head of India comes a year after Manav Bansal, the last executive to hold the position, stepped down.
Kumar started in her new role on Monday. She directly reports to Srini Nagarajan, MD and head of Asia, who was overseeing the development finance body’s India operations over the last year since Bansal stepped down.
Kumar will manage a 58-member team to oversee the BII’s “operations in India to deliver climate finance and investments designed to foster inclusive growth,” the firm said.
With over 30 years of experience, Kumar was a partner at Omidyar Network in her last stint. Previously, she served as the MD and chief executive of ICICI Securities and a board member at the National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF). Currently, she is a board member at SBI Capital Markets.
“This is a pivotal time for climate finance and inclusive growth in the region, and I look forward to working with our talented team to drive impactful investments that benefits not only communities, but also the planet,” Kumar said.
The last India head, Manav Bansal, joined in July 2022 and stepped down in February last year, per his LinkedIn profile.
Kumar's appointment comes at a time when the UK government-backed DFI plans to pump in about $1 billion in India by 2026. As per its last annual report highlighting the investments made in 2023, BII’s pace of investments in India slowed during the period. It made additional commitments of about £130 million to Indian firms last year, taking the value of its India portfolio to $2.38 billion by the end of the review period, VCCircle previously reported.
Even as the pace was slower, Nagarajan, in an interaction with VCCircle said that this happened because the Indian markets were overvalued but the DFI has no plans to slow down its India commitments going forward.
Among its latest investments, BII backed electric vehicle companies Everest Fleet, TI Clean Mobility, and Vecmocon, in December, taking its overall investment in India’s EV sector to about $328 million.
Its plan is to invest about 30% of its capital in climate-focused deals during 2022-2026. Currently, its global net assets are valued at £8.5 billion.
