Warren Buffet in India, sees lots of promise

Warren Buffett, 80, one of the world’s wealthiest men and biggest philanthropists, said on Tuesday that he would like to invest in a big economy like India. He said it makes sense to invest in billions in countries like India, China, the UK or Germany.

“ India is a very logical place to look at, and I hope to spend some money here,” he said. “ I don’t consider India as an emerging market, I consider it as a very big market,” Buffett said, adding that emerging (smaller) markets cannot absorb investment in billions.

Buffett, who is on a trip to promote business and philanthropy, is expected to visit TaeguTec India on the outskirts of Bangalore, whose parent company Iscar Metalworking Companies (IMC) is controlled by his insurance firm Berkshire Hathway, on Wednesday.

He is seeking investment options for Berkshire across Asia and his last stop was South Korea. He had to cancel his trip to Japan after the earthquake.

Buffet, nicknamed the Oracle of Omaha (his native place in Nebraska, US) for this sagely advice on global investments, said he found his country’s economy improving. “ It is getting better by the month,” he said, attributing the improvement to the resilience of capitalism.

“ The economy is driven by 309 million Americans looking for ways to do something better tomorrow than they have done today,” he added.

Since mid- 2009, the US economy has been improving “ fairly steadily”, he said, though “ not at a great rate”. Buffett said he did not subscribe to the view of India as a threatening competition and closing the gate on Indian firms as a solution to American problems. “ Competition will only contribute to better growth,” he said.

Buffett said apart from looking at business opportunities he will spend time promoting his ideas of philanthropy in India. Buffett and Microsoft co- founder Bill Gates are leading a campaign to make fellow billionaires in the US to commit half of their wealth to good causes in their lifetime as part of the ‘Giving Pledge’. So far, 59 American billionaires have taken the pledge.

Buffett said he would not prefer India’s rich to copy the US model, but adopt their own culturally appropriate model.