Mumbai: After more than a decade, I Squared Capital (ISQ), a global infrastructure investment firm, is exploring options to set up an India-focused vehicle with a targeted corpus of about ₹4,000-5,000 crore, two people familiar with the matter said.
The corpus would focus on sectors such as transport & logistics, energy transition, digital and environmental infrastructure, social infrastructure and other related enabling services, the people said on condition of anonymity. The new fund will enable Indian investors to invest alongside ISQ’s global fund, they added.
The development comes amid rising interest from domestic investors to access Indian infrastructure projects and their desire to invest in the asset class through partnerships with global funds such as I Squared Capital. If it goes as planned, this will be one of the first instances of a global fund setting up an India-focused vehicle in the infrastructure sector.
I Squared declined to comment on Mint’s emails sent last week.
Founded in 2012, I Squared manages about $60 billion in assets under management across more than 100 portfolio companies. It has offices in Abu Dhabi, New Delhi, London, Miami, Munich, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, and Taipei.
As one of the earliest infrastructure-focused investor to enter the market, the firm has a dedicated team in India to source, invest, scale, and exit infrastructure assets that provide essential services across the country.
I Squared’s India portfolio includes Cube Highways (one of India’s largest highway platforms), THINK Gas (a gas distribution platform), Hexa Climate – a renewables platform supplying round-the-clock, firm power to corporate and utility customers and Lightstorm – a data-centre fibre platform connecting India’s major cities.
It also invested in Polaris—a smart-metering platform, Cube Grid—a power-transmission platform, and Amplus (a distributed solar developer sold to a strategic buyer).
I Squared Capital has committed over $4 billion to Indian infrastructure, scaling multiple major investment platforms across transportation, power transmission, and digital infrastructure. Apart from direct investments, large investors also participate through infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).
However, direct participation in greenfield projects has remained limited, constrained by the requirements of prior development and execution experience, as well as construction, financing and demand risks. Last week, Mint reported that private equity firms, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds may get to invest across a range of infrastructure projects at the earliest stage as part of a new public-private partnership model.
These proposed changes may assume significant importance for India’s infrastructure play. DEA data shows 246 projects worth over ₹11 trillion planned over the FY26-28 period across central government ministries and departments, including aviation, petroleum, ports, roads, railways, power and water resources. At the state level, the pipeline includes 662 projects worth about ₹4 trillion, as per Mint’s report on 5 June.
More recently, I Squared launched Cube Grid—a billion dollar power transmission platform targeting India's rapidly expanding electricity grid. The platform plans to acquire and build a scaled portfolio of high-quality transmission assets across India, the company said in a statement on 20 May.
The firm recently held a first close of about $10 billion for its flagship ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund IV and raised around $2 billion for its Growth Markets Infrastructure Fund II, according to online reports. Both vehicles are part of the firm's broader expansion targeting global electric grids, transport networks, and data centres.
Broadly, large foreign funds have invested in India for quite some time, primarily in operating assets. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has invested over $4 billion in India's infrastructure, private equity, and tech sectors, while the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Investments has assets of over $22 billion in infrastructure, digital assets, and others.