New Delhi, Sept. 19 -- As Jon Gray recalls it, Blackstone Inc.'s first foray into India started slowly and then ran into headwinds during the global financial crisis.

"We had sort of a skeleton crew. We didn't really have a great defined strategy," Blackstone's president said. "We couldn't make the numbers work. So we did basically nothing."

But that uncertain beginning spurred Blackstone to rethink what it was doing in India. "We said, 'You know what? We just need a better approach.'"

Fast forward to 2026, and the picture for Blackstone and India looks much different. India has been the source of Blackstone's highest private equity returns in the world, Gray said, after the firm shifted to take majority or equal-control stakes and foc...