India aims to attract at least US$100 billion a year in gross foreign direct investment (FDI), a top official said, as the South Asian nation courts investors looking to diversify away from China.
“Our target is that we will average at least US$100 billion over the next five years. The trend is very positive and upward,” Indian Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said in an interview in New Delhi on Thursday.
The ambitious target compares with an annual average of more than US$70 billion in FDI in the five years through March last year, and would be a reversal in trend after last year’s decline.
Photo: Bloomberg
The figure for the current fiscal year would be “closer to” the US$100 billion target, Singh said.
The world’s fastest-growing major economy is appealing to businesses that want to hedge against geopolitical tensions by spreading their operations more broadly — sometimes called a “China plus one” strategy.
Companies such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co have boosted manufacturing in India, taking advantage of incentives offered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Still, foreign investment has not matched the pickup in local manufacturing.
Singh attributed that to higher inflation and interest rates in developed nations, as well as geopolitical conflicts and risk perception about emerging markets.
India has “unmatched market growth opportunity in a variety of sectors such as electric vehicles, electronic goods or general consumer goods, where penetration levels in our population are far lower than the global average,” he said.
Singh vowed that the government would take more steps to ease FDI rules.
Boosting the share of manufacturing in India’s economy has been one of the key promises made by Modi, who is seeking a third term in elections that start on April 19.
The government’s production-linked incentive program has already helped boost manufacturing and reduce India’s dependence on imports for products such as telecommunications and auto components, Singh said.
He cited export growth that has been driven by new industries.
“We have at least 39 new medical devices being made in India that were never made,” he said.
The administration has plans for several new industrial corridors that would likely get approval within the first 100 days of a new government, Singh said.
He acknowledged that the incentive plan has made slow progress in the steel and textile industries, and cited plans to expand the list of items covered under it.
The government is also working to address delays in granting visas to Chinese vendors and professionals who are needed to install machinery, an issue that has been raised by businesses, Singh said.
“Short-term visas should be provided to Chinese technicians, as we are trying to boost our own manufacturing,” he said.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
RSS