Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: India aims to attract at least $100 billion a year in gross foreign direct investment, a top official said, as the country courts investors looking to diversify away from China.
“Our target is that we will average at least $100 billion over the next five years. The trend is very positive and upward,” Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, said in an interview.
The ambitious target compares with an annual average of more than $70 billion in FDI in the five years through March 2023 and would be a reversal in trend after last year’s decline. Singh said that the figure for the current fiscal year will be “closer to” the $100 billion target.
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 like Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. have boosted manufacturing in India, taking advantage of incentives offered by PM Modi’s Government.