NEW DELHI, India (Diya TV) — Fairfax Financial Holdings Chairman and Chief Executive Prem Watsa said India could attract a manufacturing and investment boom over the next decade, citing lower production costs, expanding trade agreements and domestic demand.
In a Moneycontrol interview published Friday, the Indian-born Canadian investor compared India’s prospects with China’s industrial expansion in the early two thousands.
“India’s economic growth in the next 10 years could be huge,” Watsa said.
He cited Fairfax-backed AGT Foods, which is building a plant outside Mumbai. Watsa estimated that construction would cost roughly a quarter to a third of an equivalent North American facility, with operating expenses approximately half as high. Those figures represent his assessment of that project, rather than manufacturing costs across India.
Watsa said Fairfax had invested approximately $7 billion in India before its proposed IDBI Bank acquisition. He also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on economic development with strengthening investor confidence.
His remarks followed the government’s selection of a Fairfax subsidiary as the strategic buyer for a 60.72% stake in IDBI Bank.
Fairfax’s bid values the stake at approximately ₹52,878 crore, or $5.6 billion, at ₹81 per share. The acquisition would give the group control of the lender.
Fairfax also proposes transferring its holdings in Go Digit’s insurance businesses and IIFL Capital to IDBI Bank, bringing banking, insurance, investment banking and wealth management services together.
The company emphasized that the transaction remains incomplete. Its announcement said the parties had not signed definitive agreements and that the proposed restructuring required regulatory approvals, including from the Reserve Bank of India. Fairfax cautioned that completion was not assured.
