Growing demand, demographics, digital agenda & energy security are long-term and secular tailwinds for India: Macquarie’s Ed Northam

Mumbai: A reset of valuations of green energy assets, coupled with a supportive policy framework in energy and infrastructure, is facilitating an enormous investment opportunity in India, a senior executive at Macquarie, one of the largest backers of real assets worldwide, said.

India remains a high growth market with multiple growth drivers, said Ed Northam, global head of MAM Green Investments (GI), formerly known as Green Investment Group, a specialist unit focused on renewable energy within Macquarie Asset Management (MAM). “A growing demand, demographics, the digital agenda, energy security. These are long-term and secular tailwinds,” he said.

Macquarie has already deployed $4.2 billion in India since setting up office in 1999, cutting across roads, green power generation and e-mobility. It’s looking to step up its green investment in the country and is scouting for unique opportunities across green fuels and energy transition. GI has made three investments in India so far.


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“I think India, like the rest of the world, has broadly reset its view on value to something that feels pretty, pretty rational,” Northam said. India’s open access market has propelled green power generation in the country almost six times in recent years to 300 GW, he noted.

“What it takes to match up demand with supply is more complex today than it’s ever been,” Northam said. “There is more friction in the delivery model now, undeniably. And that’s through a combination of factors, supply chain challenges, policy agendas around on-shoring and re-shoring.”

This benefits large-scale, well-capitalised participants like Macquarie who have both the expertise and the capital capacity to stay on that journey longer, he said.

“I think there is a real premium that you can capture, if you’re able to mobilise on a global scale, but act locally,” said Northam, who is based in Singapore.

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Macquarie is a pioneer in mobilising private finance into the green energy sector. Since making its first investment in renewables in 2005, GI has deployed over $21 billion across 94 investments and 4,000 plus assets spanning the energy-transition value chain. It currently manages a global portfolio of over 35 GW of operating renewable energy capacity alongside a development pipeline exceeding 100 GW across onshore and offshore wind, solar, and battery energy storage systems (BESS).

According to Northam, there is an unprecedented ramp-up in green power capacity around the world despite environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing becoming a highly polarised debate.

Even the US, where President Donald Trump has publicly rebuked fears around climate change, saw a record number of solar installations last year, off the back of another record year in 2024, he said.

“Demand is growing at a much faster rate than supply can respond,” Northam said. “Renewables are still the lowest-cost and quickest-to-deliver supply solution. So, the agenda continues at speed because the underlying fundamentals and drivers remain compelling. So, even without debating the environmental benefits, it’s the economics that are driving performance.”

He highlighted another staggering data: the frenetic buildout of AI data centres contributes just a fifth of the demand growth of clean electricity. “The digital agenda accounts for less than 20% of that demand growth. The balance is coming from industrial build-outs of manufacturing capacity, transport and heating in environmentally friendly buildings,” he said.

Macquarie, in Northam’s own words, has been “inconsistent” in its India strategy, even though it has been present locally for close to 30 years. But with a new team in place, it plans to reboot its focus.

In December 2025, the firm roped in Prateek Jhawar, a veteran infrastructure specialist investment banker, as its India country head.

“It is a conscious and deliberate sort of recognition that we want to do more. We see a bigger opportunity set, and we want to catch that,” Northam said.

Renewables will continue to be the largest opportunity set, but the market is evolving towards multi-technology – combining wind, solar with storage to create hybrid solutions – for 24x7 firm supply. “On the back of that, we also see the need to and opportunity to invest in more flexible distribution and transmission networks. And then energy transition in industry – green gas, green hydrogen and ammonia,” he said.

Macquarie’s $400-million investment in Indian fleet electrification solutions platform Vertelo in 2024-25 fits that agenda, Northam added. Prateek Jhawar, managing director and head of real assets – India at Macquarie Asset Management, said it’s “a multi-decadal opportunity including leasing and financing, charging infrastructure and energy management, fleet management services, and end-of-life asset management. We are working with bus fleet operators to support their transition to electric vehicles,” Jhawar said. “We’re now moving to trucks, cars… The model just continues to expand to multiple forms and in sync with our mobility agenda which is the other big area.”

The confluence of scale, dependable technology, and commercial viability makes the investment thesis robust.

As India plays catch up in data centre scale ups by hyper scalers, Northam said the lesson to be learnt from more developed markets like the US is, relying on one’s own electricity or water supplies supports the delivery of such assets. “It’s an important requirement – that the roll-out of data centre capacity doesn’t increase the cost of power or water,” he said.