Indian fund manager EAAA India Alternatives is treading in the footsteps of its global peers, aiming to incubate development platforms and take greenfield risk. In doing so, it may provide a template for other local managers to emulate.

When Mumbai-based asset manager EAAA India Alternatives – the real assets arm of Edelweiss Group – announced a global fundraise in September 2023 to invest in greenfield energy transition projects in India, it was decidedly a bold move.

That it only secured first close last October at USD 175m – a full two years after it launched the fundraise for its India Energy Transition Fund (IETF) – underscores the challenges that Indian managers face in tying up commitments from limited partners (LPs) overseas. The IETF has 18 months from the date of first close to reach its USD 500m target, which can be extended by another six, as per local regulations.

In comparison, global managers reached their fundraising targets in 30 months on average in 2025 and 2024, while in 2023, it was 24.6 months and the previous year, 23.3 months, according to Infralogic data.

“It is very satisfying to have received a USD 60m anchor commitment from the European Investment Bank for IETF,” says Subahoo Chordia, CEO, EAAA India Alternatives, highlighting the tough fundraising environment.

Chordia did not say who the other limited partners are that invested in the IETF, but added that 73% of the firm’s overall assets under management of INR 655bn (USD 7.2bn) comprise commitments from existing LPs.

The manager has not hired placement agents to help with IETF, preferring instead to contact LPs through its own teams in Europe. Chordia also travelled to Japan, where there is rising interest for energy transition themes in India, he says.

Fundraising challenge

The universe of investors that have an infrastructure team willing to look at India specifically for their blind-pool fund investments is still very nascent, according to Ricardo Felix, head of Asia-Pacific at global advisory and private markets placement firm Asante Capital.

“This is largely a result of infrastructure being a newer asset class in the APAC region,” he says.

“Placement agents also tend to move away from the triple risk of single-country exposure, emerging managers, and emerging markets, which makes it more difficult to justify entering the space,” Felix says.

What helped EAAA India Alternatives to secure commitments was its ability to mitigate some of these risks, says Chordia, by offering diversification within India.

The manager pitched its USD 7.2bn portfolio, spread across performing and special situations credit, infrastructure, commercial real estate, energy transition, and investment trusts, as the only one in the country offering diversified opportunities.

It’s an important selling point, because India is increasingly on the radar of global LPs in the alternatives segment, but is not yet a core allocation, says Arpit Khandelwal, managing director, head of Asia origination, at FIRSTavenue, another global advisory and capital placement business.

“LPs are now familiar with the macro backdrop, but capital deployment remains measured and patient, making fundraising competitive,” he says.

“With regional allocation buckets fading post-Covid, Indian GPs now compete directly with global and Asian infrastructure, energy transition, and diversified alternatives GPs for access to capital,” he adds.

LP view

EIB, which has invested around EUR 5.6bn in India since 1993, 90% of which supports climate action, was in discussions with EAAA India Alternatives since September 2022, Matthieu Ducorroy, EIB’s head of equity and funds division, told Infralogic.

While the Luxembourg-based bank views India’s energy transition as a compelling growth opportunity – with some of the world’s most ambitious climate and renewable energy targets – Ducorroy says its latest investment is also aligned with the European Commission’s Global Gateway Strategy, as well as recognising EAAA India Alternatives’ alignment with EIB’s own policy objectives.

While the Indian government’s commitment to private sector involvement provides a significant momentum for scalable and commercially viable renewable energy projects, Ducorroy expects that the EIB’s involvement with IETF will also help mobilise private capital from both European and domestic institutional investors, including insurers and pension funds.

India is targeting 500 GW of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030 and net zero by 2070.

The launch of IETF, which focuses on greenfield projects with an emphasis on renewables, energy efficiency, and e-mobility, marks a natural progression in EAAA India Alternatives’ investment strategy, as it already manages a well-established brownfield infrastructure platform called Sekura, focusing on transportation assets, renewable energy projects, and transmission networks, says Ducorroy.

As a result, many of the challenges of investing in India are addressed through the combination of a seasoned fund manager, EAAA Alternatives, and Sekura, which EIB views as a robust operational asset-management platform, he says.

EAAA India Alternatives’ operating platform Sekura has so far managed the investments of its Infrastructure Yield Strategy – Infrastructure Yield Plus I (IYP I) and IYP II funds.

IYP I, which raised INR 33bn in 2020 (about USD 450m at the time) is fully deployed, while IYP II, which closed at USD 1.1bn last year, is in the midst of deployment.

“Our organisational structure is similar to that of global asset managers, where there are operating partners, supervising various management teams below them that are responsible for different portfolios,” says Chordia.

With a real assets operating portfolio, as of last September-end, of 1.79 million sq ft of office space; 4,586 lane kilometres of roads; 1,834.90 circuit kilometres of transmission lines; and 1.71 GW of solar assets, EAAA India Alternatives understands the challenges of running assets, and is well-placed to suggest what should be done during the construction phase to optimise asset performance, says Chordia.

The manager retains in-house commercial, regulatory, design and engineering teams, as well as experts who understand operations and can be called upon by IETF’s portfolio companies, he says.

“This will ensure that whatever value we have been able to add after acquiring operating assets actually gets done at the time of construction when IETF is building its portfolio,” Chordia says.

Gearing up

IETF is focusing on its next steps. By March 2026, it will have at least three investment platforms in place, each targeting a crucial part of the energy transition value chain, Infralogic reported last month, citing sources.

One of these will be for power transmission, another for utility scale renewable energy, and the third for commercial and industrial (C&I) solar. Some of IETF’s LPs that have co-investment rights, may pick up stakes in these platforms, but these will be majority-owned and controlled by the Indian fund manager.

For other segments, including electric vehicles and related infrastructure, IETF may partner with other builders and operators. It will not consider hydrogen projects.

If IETF reaches its USD 500m target, it will be able to leverage its equity base to build about USD 2bn worth of projects – contingent on a 3:1 debt to equity split – as well as attract more equity capital at premium valuations when the platforms are built and achieve scale, sources said last month. IETF is also hiring personnel with project execution experience and will put together a team of about 10 people at the senior management level.

The aim is to create platforms, taking a build-to-sell approach such as those established by foreign investors, says Chordia adding that the main investment themes include climate mitigation and adaptation, renewables, energy efficiency, transmission, electric vehicles and circular economy projects.

While Actis is on its third renewables platform in India, others that have built more than one development platform include Brookfield and Macquarie.

IETF’s success may spur others.

Mumbai-based Neo Asset Management is in the midst of setting up an operating platform, headed by the former CEO of KKR’s India roads infrastructure trust, Neeraj Sanghi.

For Indian entrants, success will depend on building institutional platforms with strong operating depth, governance, and long-term capital alignment, says Khandelwal.

“LP confidence will be driven by the team’s operating experience, consistent deal flow with co-investment opportunities, stable yield-producing cash flows, and credible exit pathways”.