BANGALORE: US billionaire investor Warren Buffett, on his maiden visit to India, said Tuesday he was looking at investing in the fast-growing South Asian nation.
The chairman of investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, which last week bought US lubricant maker Lubrizol for $9 billion, said "we need to make large commitments so India is a very logical place to look."
Buffett, known as the "Oracle of Omaha" for his investment savvy, added that he did not consider India with its $1.3 trillion economy "as an emerging market, I consider India a very big market."
"We hope to spend some money here," said Buffett, whose company had amassed around $38 billion in cash by the end of 2010.
Buffett was speaking in India's high-tech hub of Bangalore.
He arrived in India on Tuesday to join Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in seeking to persuade India's super-rich to part with some of their wealth as part of "The Giving Pledge" campaign started by the two tycoons last year.
Gates and Buffett, who went on a similar mission to China last September, are to meet with wealthy Indians on Thursday in the capital New Delhi.
Buffett, who has an estimated net worth of $50 billion, said the pair planned to talk to business leaders "about what we have done. If it seems like a good idea (to them) -- terrific.
"If it doesn't they will have gotten a free dinner," he joked.
Gates, who has an estimated net worth of $56 billion and has put much of his money into the Gates Foundation, and Buffett have teamed up to persuade rich Americans to give away at least half of their wealth.
So far 59 have signed up to "The Giving Pledge."
Buffett, who has pledged 99 percent of his wealth to charity, said he had never given away a dollar "that has changed my life. I have never not gone to a movie or taken my family on a vacation."
He said that the money he is donating "has no value to me but has value to other people so it makes sense to give it away."
Speaking on the US recovery, Buffett said that "the American economy is getting better month by month."
He added that the Japanese earthquake and tsunami which have left more than 22,000 dead or missing "was a terrible tragedy" but "is not going to stop the growth in the world economy."
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