Blackstone's president and chief operating officer, Jonathan Gray, put forward the view that India's equity markets now rank among the world's most liquid, trailing only the United States, with policy reforms, infrastructure upgrades, and a broader opening to overseas investors having contributed to that trajectory.
At a Bloomberg New Economy 2026 panel session titled "The End of Predictability," Gray pointed to the past two decades as a period during which India's investment landscape had undergone considerable change — drawing in foreign capital, enabling a broader pool of companies to list domestically, and, in his view, lifting the country's capital market liquidity to a level he placed second only to that of the United States, a shift he attributed partly to regulatory adjustments introduced by the government.
Gray noted that the shift was worth highlighting because access to those same industries had been off-limits to outside investors roughly two decades earlier, adding that the opening of those sectors had contributed to a clear uptick in economic expansion, which he viewed as an encouraging indicator for the area.
Upgrades to physical infrastructure and dispute-resolution mechanisms were among the factors Gray highlighted, alongside what he described as an open posture toward overseas capital, as contributing to a more favourable environment for investment in India.
Those panel remarks unfolded against a backdrop of wider conversation about the forces expected to steer worldwide economic output and investment behaviour — among them the disruption driven by new technologies, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and the mounting weight of government debt.
Technology stood out in Gray's remarks as the defining force of the present moment, with artificial intelligence and superintelligence projected to reshape how consumers, businesses, and governments operate.
Lowering barriers to cross-border investment — through streamlined regulations, predictable frameworks, and tax structures that do not deter outside capital — offers governments a path to stimulating growth even when public finances are under pressure, he added.
Electricity, digital infrastructure, defence, and life sciences were named by Gray as Blackstone's priority areas as artificial intelligence moves further into real-world physical deployment. Power demands tied to self-driving vehicles and robotic systems were among the expanding technological pressures he drew attention to.
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, who chairs Tata Sons, joined former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the panel, with both figures addressing the economic pressures and geopolitical uncertainties weighing on the world economy.
Ongoing refinements to market regulations, physical infrastructure, and the broader conditions facing investors will factor into India's capacity to draw overseas capital and keep its economy expanding, according to Gray's assessment.
