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UAE’s investment in India on track to top $100b: Goyal

Both sides discussed in detail about setting up food parks in India

The UAE’s investment commitment in India could top $100 billion from the earlier target of $75 billion as both countries discussed ways to explore investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, public markets and various other sectors.

Both sides discussed in detail about setting up food parks in India to exclusively serve UAE markets, India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said at the 12th meeting of India-UAE High Level Task Force on Investments on Monday.

Currently, the UAE has $20 billion invested directly in India, with additional investments coming through sovereign wealth funds. The Indian minister highlighted a significant reduction in India's trade deficit with the UAE, which has fallen from $22 billion to $12 billion, reflecting the growth of Indian exports to the region. He also noted the rising Indian population in the UAE, which has increased from 2.2 million to 3.5 million over the past decade.

The UAE is India’s seventh largest investor with a share of 3.0 per cent in the total foreign direct investment (FDI) received in India, with cumulative investment of approximately $20 billion from April 2000- June 2024.

“The UAE’s investment comes through two mediums. One is directly from the UAE which is in the region of about $20 billion. They are also co-investing through several other funds across the world. Blackstone and KKR have a large degree of investments from sovereign wealth funds of the UAE which then come to India through the large investment houses,” Goyal said.

The UAE-India “Food Corridor” will involve investment of $2 billion to set up food processing units that will make products suitable for the UAE palette and food park logistics that will be required to move the products to UAE.

“The UAE has made an initial commitment of $2 billion. These investments will happen over the next two to two-and-half years, Goyal said. Discussions on the food sector investments have been going on for a while now; they are progressing faster and the background work is largely completed, he added.

This announcement came after the 12th meeting of the India-UAE High Level Joint Task Force on Investments, co-chaired by Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), and Goyal.

The discussions focused on the progress of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa), with particular focus on the development of a virtual trade corridor and a dedicated food corridor.

Goyal revealed that Invest India is in the process of opening an office in the UAE. This office will host the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) to strengthen bilateral trade cooperation. In a reciprocal move, the UAE will open a similar office in New Delhi, co-located with Invest India.