To ramp up efforts in India, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) has appointed Darius Vakil from Goldman Sachs to lead venture investments in the country.

The venture capital firm intends to build its own venture investment team, primarily focusing on the late-stage companies in the team. This is the debut hire from the firm in India.

With more than 17 years of experience, Vakil is currently an executive director at Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division. Prior to that, he worked at General Atlantic and Gaja Capital.

He will contribute to the “Teachers Venture Growth” initiative, which has so far invested more than $8.5 billion across America, Europe, and Asia.

As a pension fund, OTPP invests in venture capital and private equity funds. As of now, in India, it has invested across mid-market PE funds such as ChrysCapital and Kedaara Capital. It has also invested in venture capital funds such as Sequoia Capital and Accel India.

In the last couple of years, India has become an increasingly important market for OTPP. In September, the firm said that it had appointed an existing fund executive, Deepak Dara, as senior managing director and its India head. She is expected to take over early next year.

It has invested in several sectors, such as infrastructure, private credit, and private equity. In September, Jo Taylor, President of OTPP, mentioned in an interview that the firm is keen to expand its portfolio in India over the next 3–7 years and is eyeing infrastructure, healthcare, credit, and tech-enabled businesses in India.

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