We show that outward investment by Chinese firms with resource and asset seeking motives and Indian firms with market-seeking motives diverged after the financial crisis of 2008, due to different motives and the underlying financing structure of their outward investments. Indian firms faced export market contraction externally and cut back on outward investments as sales revenues shrank. In contrast, Chinese firms that relied on debt finance to seek out international assets expanded investment as investment targets became cheaper and the reliance on leverage inured Chinese firms to the fluctuations of stock markets and other financial implications of the crisis.