You ain't seen nothin' yet
The man who bid adieu to America five years ago says India's best is yet to come.
Print Edition: Jan 09, 2011
Sometime in the middle of 1996, Sameer Sain was greeted with a clipped phone call. "Get ready to go to India," the voice intoned. Next, this young Associate at Goldman Sachs was on a Mumbai-bound flight with Hank Paulson, the then Vice Chairman of the Wall Street bank (who later became its Chairman & CEO, and after that Treasury Secretary of the United States). Sain had to accompany Paulson to sign a joint venture agreement with Indian dealmaker Uday Kotak.
Sain joined Goldman in 1995 after completing a BBA from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from Cornell . "There were many Indians at the firm," recalls Sain, a British citizen who grew up in Mumbai. But India as a market was hardly worth considering then for most of them.
Sain left India in 1990 thinking it was for good. But when Indian companies began making global acquisitions, he knew he had to take a closer look. "People abroad started believing in India," says Sain, who was also witness to Goldman's ground-breaking report on BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China - way back in 2003 that talked extensively about the India opportunity. "I didn't believe in the India story then," says Sain, frankly. The co-author of the BRIC report, Roopa Purushothaman, today works for him at Everstone Capital, a company he founded along with another Goldman honcho, Atul Kapur, in 2006.
Back in the early 2000s, however, Sain was a distant spectator to reforms like relaxations in foreign direct investment and increased interest among foreign institutional investors.
"We started learning more," says Sain who was then Managing Director (Investment Banking Division ) and Head of Institutional Wealth Management at Goldman. By end-2005, Sain had to make the decision of his life. The global professional with a British passport and an American wife wanted to come back to India. His wife burst into tears when she heard this. "Are you mad," was her first reaction. "She married me never thinking that she would have to settle down in India," says Sain, who spent almost 11 years at Goldman across the US and Europe.
The best thing Sain could have done was to catch up during an India visit with an entrepreneur who had grown along with the reforms process - Kishore Biyani. Over lunch Biyani, a family friend, convinced Sain to pack his bags and head home. "Tum abhi nahin karoge to kabhi nahin karoge," Biyani told him, which translates into: "If you don't do it now, you will never do it."
Sain joined hands with Biyani to co-promote Future Capital Holdings to exploit synergies between organised retail and financial services products. But that venture lasted only three years as Biyani wanted to stay focused on the consumption side whereas Sain's skills lay more in investing. He is still a minority shareholder in Future Capital, but Everstone Capital, which has dedicated private equity and real estate funds, is familiar territory for Sain. For Sain this is just the beginning. "We are about to see the most unbelievable decade in India. We haven't even started," he says, adding that the year 2010 is only "the end of the beginning".
Sain joined Goldman in 1995 after completing a BBA from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from Cornell . "There were many Indians at the firm," recalls Sain, a British citizen who grew up in Mumbai. But India as a market was hardly worth considering then for most of them.
| Sameer Sain Founder Director, Everstone Capital Previous employer Goldman Sachs in the US Why I came back The sheer India opportunity fascinated me and convinced me to become an entrepreneur If I was not in India I would have regrets High point in India Is yet to come. It has been a steady rise Low point in India It comes every day when I look out of my car window and see inequality all around |
Back in the early 2000s, however, Sain was a distant spectator to reforms like relaxations in foreign direct investment and increased interest among foreign institutional investors.
"We started learning more," says Sain who was then Managing Director (Investment Banking Division ) and Head of Institutional Wealth Management at Goldman. By end-2005, Sain had to make the decision of his life. The global professional with a British passport and an American wife wanted to come back to India. His wife burst into tears when she heard this. "Are you mad," was her first reaction. "She married me never thinking that she would have to settle down in India," says Sain, who spent almost 11 years at Goldman across the US and Europe.
The best thing Sain could have done was to catch up during an India visit with an entrepreneur who had grown along with the reforms process - Kishore Biyani. Over lunch Biyani, a family friend, convinced Sain to pack his bags and head home. "Tum abhi nahin karoge to kabhi nahin karoge," Biyani told him, which translates into: "If you don't do it now, you will never do it."
Sain joined hands with Biyani to co-promote Future Capital Holdings to exploit synergies between organised retail and financial services products. But that venture lasted only three years as Biyani wanted to stay focused on the consumption side whereas Sain's skills lay more in investing. He is still a minority shareholder in Future Capital, but Everstone Capital, which has dedicated private equity and real estate funds, is familiar territory for Sain. For Sain this is just the beginning. "We are about to see the most unbelievable decade in India. We haven't even started," he says, adding that the year 2010 is only "the end of the beginning".
