Merrill Lynch chief John Thain finds India the top investment destination

Merrill Lynch chairman and CEO John Thain says India is the most attractive place for investments; "When I look around the world where there are great growth opportunities, no place is better than India right now."

Merrill Lynch acquired a 90-per cent stake in its Indian joint venture with DSP, DSP Merrill Lynch, in 2007 and has since has doubled its headcount in India.

Speaking to the media in Mumbai, the former chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange said, growth was evident across sectors and companies were seeking overseas growth through mergers and acquisitions, an area that Thain expects would drive revenues for Merrill Lynch.

"Companies are growing in India and they need capital. They are starting to make acquisitions around the globe and becoming more international. Indian companies are really starting to look around the world and becoming big global companies. All of that presents opportunities for our business."

Thain said India would be relatively less affected by the US slowdown, though he did not subscribe to the decoupling theory. ''The degree is different for different countries," depending on their domestic demand. In India, there is a very high level of domestic demand, while there are large investments happening in infrastructure,'' he said. (See: Interview: India's high domestic demand immune to US slowdown: Merrill Lynch's John Thain)

Merrill Lynch Lynch was invgesting in the real estate sector at the moment though it was equally busllish on "anything in the infrastructure part of the economy and the banking systems" and telecom. "It is all the sectors that are participating in the growth in India."

Thain also disclosed that Merrill Lynch was representing South African telecom firm MTN that Sunil Mittal's Bahrti Airtel is said to be negotiating to acquire. "Big deals can get done and it is actually quite a positive that you are seeing Indian companies really starting to look around the world and becoming big global companies."

On conditions in the US, he said the US economy would continue to drag for at least four to six months, caused by rising energy prices and unemployment leading to  demand slowdown and the liklihood of credit card defaults, after lenders had to write-off  around $300 billion in sub prime losses. Apart from these he feels the lending markets have stabilised.