Kshitij Karundia and Guru Gowrappan: Meet the Indians behind Alibaba’s tryst with India

BENGALURU: When Alibaba founder Jack Ma signs off on investments in Indian companies, he would have been advised by two people of Indian origin—former Citi group executive Kshitij Karundia and Silicon Valley technopreneur Guru Gowrappan. The two men are part of a triumvirate — Ma’s lieutenant JiGangis the other member — that has been assembled by the Chinese e-commerce company to chart out its investment strategy for India.

Karundia, who studied at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad and Sydenham College in Mumbai, was appointed as a senior director at Alibaba just over a month ago, people aware of the development said. His mandate is to source and execute deals for Alibaba as part of its strategic investments group.

Ma,a former school teacher, has visited India twice already.

Ma has expressed interest in tapping into opportunities in the lucrative Indian market. In a report earlier this year, Morgan Stanley said it expects the Indian internet market to be the fastest-growing in the world and reach a size of $137 billion (Rs 8.7 lakh crore) by 2020. Karundia, who is based in Hong Kong, will report to Ji, the investment director at Alibaba. He will monitor the group’s investments in Southeast Asia, too. Karundia did not reply to an email seeking his comments. Alibaba was not immediately available for comment.
"He has a thoroughbred consulting background and finance came naturally to him," said Subramani Ramachandrappa, chairman and managing director of Richcore Life Sciences, who studied with Karundia at ISB about a decade ago. "He was also a natural leader."

Ji, who is nicknamed Jackie, has the power to make big investment decisions as well as the ear of Ma. "Ji Gang is to Jack Ma what Nikesh Arora is to ( SoftBank’s) Masayoshi Son," said a source briefed on the plans, referring to the Japanese conglomerate which owns the biggest stake in Alibaba and has invested in Indian firms Snapdeal, Ola, Housing and InMobi.

Alibaba made its first investment in India in February by buying an estimated 25 per cent stake in Paytm for $575 million through affiliate Ant Financial Services.

India-born Gowrappan, a Silicon Valley technopreneur who runs Alibaba-backed startup Quixey, will also advise Ma on investing in Indian companies.

Gowrappan, the founder of mobile app search company Quixey, drives the Chinese group’s agenda around smartphones and operating systems, said the source. Gowrappan used to work at Yahoo, when the company had made an investment in Alibaba. The e-commerce firm invested $50 million in Gowrappan’s company Quixey in 2013.

Karundia already has a great rapport with the Alibaba Group from his days at Citigroup. He managed Citi’s relationship with Alibaba and led the company’s blockbuster public offering on the New York Stock Exchange when it raised a record $25 billion.

Alibaba is likely to channel some of its investments through companies like Micromax and Paytm. Phone-maker Micromax is in the final stages of closing a $1-billion round from Alibaba. In May, Micromax announced plans to invest $400 million in 20 startups in areas such as healthcare, entertainment and gaming.