Would you give up tennis?” The question is startling because, first, it comes out of the blue. And, secondly, because it comes from Nicolas Berggruen, one of the world’s super rich and we have been talking money (his bag full of it, my lack of it).

He is sitting by the Taj Mahal hotel’s poolside having a late breakfast of a soft-boiled egg. “Only one egg?” he asks a passing waiter. With an air of triumph the waiter flips the egg holder to reveal a secret compartment which snugly holds another. “A nest egg,” I mumble, “for someone with several of them.”

Those he has without doubt. But if you haven’t heard of Nicolas Berggruen, it is by choice. At one time he was so notoriously private that when a Dutch magazine ran a profile of him, or so the story goes, he tried to buy all copies of the issue so he could burn them. He is obviously more relaxed about media coverage now, presumably because it can help in some of the many ventures he is involved in.

Obviously many of them have to do with money. Berggruen Holdings has invested more than $2 billion in the last 20 years in over 100 entities, and since it is his own money, he usually takes the long term view in his investments. Four years ago, he began to invest in India.

“I hadn’t planned to,” he says. “I came to India, well, for India. I was attracted to the country because its cultural diversity was fascinating. I also found its aesthetics immensely attractive. I noticed the harmony in relationships here, the great emphasis on family values. Investing wasn’t on my mind at all.” That changed when he met Kabir Kewalramani, who is now managing director of Berggruen Holdings in India. His Indian portfolio is unusual: in car rentals (presence in 18 cities, mainly in the South), in budget hotels under the brand name Key hotels (18 sites so far… is 18 a lucky number?). The Indian arm has also invested in plant equipment rental and education (both degree and vocational, 17 academies so far… striving for the 18th ?). These are low key but canny investments: the professional college and service training segments, for example, are expected to reach the $15 billion mark soon.

As we sit by the poolside, a crow dodges the Taj’s netting and parks itself on a lamp near us. It eyes Berggruen’s breakfast, and expresses itself raucously. “Can you get rid of that bird?” I ask the waiter. The waiter shoos at the crow politely; the crow ignores him completely. Nicolas and I carry on our conversation over the din. The conversation, I notice, has taken a curious turn: I was supposed to interview Berggruen, instead of which he seems to be interviewing me! And it’s not about investment opportunities but about governance.

A few years ago, the man who has invested in Berlin, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Portugal, Australia, Switzerland, the UK, the US, and so on, got tired of being ‘just’ a money man. From his young days he had dreamed of a utopian national constitution, a legal framework which could help in governance in any country. He decided to spend $100 million of his own money in setting up the Nicolas Berggruen Institute, a think tank whose advisers consist of luminaries such as Chris Patten, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz and Fareed Zakaria. Later he put in $25 million for a ‘Think Long’ Committee for California. Why California when he is a German-American who lives in New York? “Because California is creative and open to ideas, and its constitution is so democratic, it’s chaotic,” he says. Condoleezza Rice has sat in on its deliberations as has Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google.

Set up a think tank in India, I urge him: our democracy will make California’s seem almost Teutonic. And if there’s one country in the world which needs new ideas on governance, it’s ours.

Nicolas Berggruen has often been called The Homeless Billionaire, because a few years ago he sold off his homes in New York and Florida and decided to live in hotels all over the world. But he did keep his private jet, so I suppose that is where he keeps his clothes and his papers, a home perpetually on the move.

He also gave away to Germany his father Heinz Berggruen’s magnificent collection of paintings (Heinz was a friend of Picasso). The artworks are now housed in a museum bearing the family name. So then, I ask him, why don’t you go in for philanthropy and social activism full time instead of spending some of your time making money?

“You write, don’t you?” he asks me. “You also play tennis, don’t you? Will you give up tennis and do more writing?” I see his point. Nicolas Berggruen enjoys making money so why shouldn’t he continue to do so? Especially when that will enable him to do the things that he really wants to do. Which is to make the world a better place to live in. It’s a long shot, of course, but that shouldn’t stop us from being on his side.