Singapore's GIC sees AI opportunity for India as "raw ingredients" are in place
In an exclusive interview with Mint, GIC's group chief investment officer Bryan Yeo shared insights on the firm's AI investment thesis, the role of its flagship Bridge Forum, a platform connecting AI startups with global corporations, and how it is also deploying AI internally to improve investment decisions.
Edited excerpts:
Amid the prevailing geopolitical uncertainty, particularly around US-India trade ties, how is GIC positioning itself in India, especially in AI-related investments?
We certainly acknowledge the rising geopolitical and structural uncertainties globally, including around the US-India tech and trade relationship. However, we are not overly concerned about near-term volatility. At GIC, we take a long-term, thematic approach to investing. Artificial intelligence is not just transformational, but foundational: a multi-decade theme.
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So, our focus remains on enduring opportunities like AI, where we see significant value creation, especially in a growing economy like India. While geopolitical risks are factored into our underwriting, they don't change our core thesis. Diversification is a key part of our strategy to ensure portfolio resilience, and India continues to be an important geography for us.
Can you elaborate on how GIC is approaching AI investments in India? Where do you see the most immediate opportunities?
Our framework divides the AI value chain into three categories: enablers, monetizers, and adopters. Enablers include companies building the infrastructure needed for AI, such as data centers and semiconductors. Monetizers are startups developing AI-native products and services. Adopters are large corporations integrating AI into their operations to drive productivity and transformation.
Right now, we are most deeply invested in enablers across the globe, including global partnerships in data infrastructure. But in India, we are mostly invested in adopters through large- and mid-cap listed tech companies, as well as industrial and financial companies.
We take a bottom-up approach with all our investments. While there is no dedicated fund for AI investments in India, we are invested in various layers of the Indian AI ecosystem through both public and private equity.
What role does the Bridge Forum play in supporting your AI strategy in India?
The Bridge Forum is GIC's flagship initiative to foster synergies between AI startups and large global enterprises. It's held biennially in Silicon Valley—the last edition was in May 2025—and we've made over 500 curated introductions between founders and 250+ C-suite leaders from 20 countries.
In 2023, we brought the Bridge Forum to India for the first time. It was a CTO-focused edition, with participation from leading Indian startups such as Flipkart, Razorpay, Zepto, Postman, and global players like Microsoft, Snowflake, Databricks, and Stripe.
We are hosting the next India edition in Mumbai later this year, where we aim to connect Indian tech founders with CIOs and CTOs of multinational corporations. The goal is to help Indian startups scale by selling into global markets, while enabling MNCs to adopt cutting-edge AI technologies — creating commercial value for all parties, including GIC.
India still lags behind the US and China in AI innovation. What's your view on this gap, and how can India catch up?
I see it as a journey. India, if compared with the US, is behind in terms of maturity of the startup ecosystem and growth. However, we are very optimistic about India's long-term potential.
The growth of the ecosystem is supported by the large pool of strong engineering talent, a rapidly growing digital economy, and a supportive regulatory environment that India has. We hire many fresh graduates in our India offices and see first-hand the technical capabilities.
While the AI startup ecosystem is still nascent, we believe the raw ingredients are in place. Our approach is to deploy patient capital and support proven, commercially viable startups as they scale.
What's your view on India's government-led initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission? Do state partnerships affect GIC's investment focus?
The IndiaAI Mission and similar government initiatives can provide a strong push for AI adoption and digital infrastructure development. Government-backed projects can provide validation for how good a product or service is as they need certain markets to pilot and grow.
GIC's focus, however, remains on commercial use cases. What matters to us is whether a company has a solid business model, strong management, and scalable technology.
You've spoken about digitalization being a key driver. How significant is that for your India portfolio?
Digitisation is a major value creator, especially in the financial sector, where we have been long-term investors. GIC's exposure to financial services in India is around $20 billion—this includes banks, NBFCs, and insurance companies across public and private markets. We've been invested here since the early 1990s.
AI is now a key enabler in digitising financial operations—from customer onboarding and credit scoring to fraud detection and operational efficiency.
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We also see strong potential for AI adoption in healthcare — in medical imaging analysis, drug development, and clinical safety testing. In supply chains and manufacturing, AI is being used for predictive routing, quality control, and process optimization.
GIC is actively invested in Indian infrastructure, real estate, IT services and manufacturing. AI adoption in these sectors will only accelerate and open up new investment opportunities.
How is GIC using AI internally?
We are undergoing a multi-year transformation to become an AI-enabled organization ourselves. One standout project is the Virtual Investment Committee (IC) Member — a platform that ingests investment memos, analyses them in about an hour, and generates reports with probing questions, risk flags, and discussion prompts.
This tool is already in use by our real estate and fixed income teams, and it draws on decades of deal data to simulate IC discussions and identify the blind spots. We are now developing varied AI personas — such as a risk manager — to further enhance decision-making.
This kind of internal adoption helps us improve efficiency and analytical rigour. It is not about replacing people, but augmenting our capabilities with intelligent, agentic tools.
And finally, given the AI-driven disruptions, how do you think companies, including those in India, should prepare?
We see AI as both an opportunity and a risk. It will create immense value, but will also disrupt traditional business models. Companies that embrace AI early will likely gain a significant competitive edge, while those that resist may fall behind.
In India, companies across sectors—from finance to pharma—need to proactively invest in AI adoption. At GIC, we will continue supporting businesses that are positioning themselves to thrive in this new environment.
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