Peers describe TPG Growth's Vish Narain as a savvy investor

VISH NARAIN
Country Head, TPG Growth
AGE: 38
GOAL IN LIFE: Invest more capital in India and create more jobs.
BEST LEADERSHIP LESSON: Teamwork trumps individual effort. We are all incomplete blocks moving towards a complete whole.

When Vishwarupe Narain was offered the job of Country Head of TPG Growth in 2007, the role was indeed exciting. He had to set up operations for the company that wanted to set up a $1 billion fund. The fast-growing Indian economy made it even more tempting.

"India was the new buzzword in the global platform," recalls Narain, who was then an investor with Bessemer Venture Partners in New York. Since returning, the IIT Delhi alumnus has invested in surgical equipment maker Sutures, automobile dealer Landmark Auto and AGS, which manages 40,000 ATMs. He has also got global recognition. Last year, he was named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

His peers describe Narain as a smart investor and a great leader. "I am yet to a come across a professional with extremely strong intellectual capability and a strategic thinker who is so humble and down to earth," says Mayank Singhal, a former colleague who is now Associate Director at Temasek Holdings.