For the past two decades, China’s rise seemed unstoppable. Its vast productive capacity cast such a shadow over Asia that many global chief executives came to see the region as two distinct entities: China, and everything else.
Covid changed that. Not overnight. But more than a year on from its belated decision to open its borders and let the world back in, China is in a surprisingly uncertain place. While far from enfeebled, its economy is certainly sclerotic. Many investors continue to give it a wide berth.
Instead, global capital is flowing elsewhere in the region. Funds have fallen back in love with Japan. Corporates are targeting resource-rich Indonesia. But no Asia market is quite as ascendant in 2024 as India.
During a recent conversation with DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta, the talk turned to the subject of growth and opportunity. More specifically: what single market most excited the man who engineered the rise of Singapore’s largest and most outward-facing lender.
Treading water
Until very recently, Gupta would surely have led with the People’s Republic, and for good reason. For most of the past decade “China was keeping us afloat, they kept us going,” he tells Euromoney.
That’s
