UAE is 10th largest investor in India's FDI sector: Ambassador Kapoor

Dubai - The UAE, India investment ties stand on a strong foundation of mutual trust: Envoy Kapoor

The Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Pavan Kapoor, who assumed office in October 2019, spoke exclusively to Khaleej Times on a range of issues such as bilateral ties, growing trade and commerce between the two countries, a sneak peek into the India Pavilion at the upcoming Dubai Expo 2020, upskilling of Indian workers to how the UAE has emerged as one of the leading seats of Arab culture in the region.

This is the second part of a three-part series.

The UAE has emerged as the 10th largest investor in the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector in India. The ambassador spoke about the sectors that the UAE can invest more in and how New Delhi could reciprocate.

“The investment relationship between India and the UAE stands on a strong foundation of mutual trust and common aspirations. During Prime Minister Narendra Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE in 2015, both countries agreed to set up an India-UAE Infrastructure fund with an aim to reach $75 billion (b) investments into India’s infrastructure sector. Since then, we made great progress and major investors from UAE have made significant investments in the last few years and the trend is continuing. It is also natural that investments would need handholding at various stages to facilitate the procedures. In this context, we have worked and will continue to work closely with our UAE partners to facilitate their investments in India.

"For example, the Indian government took a special decision in 2019 to not club various UAE sovereign wealth funds as one sovereign entity for the purpose of 10 per cent limit on Foreign Portfolio Investment, and also agreed to grant tax exemptions for foreign sovereign investments like that of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) made in long-term infrastructure projects in India. In February, the Indian government also decided to extend special eligibility for foreign portfolio investors from the UAE that would expand their presence in India.

"As a step towards strengthening the people to people, trade links and strategic ties between the two countries, India announced a visa on arrival scheme for Emiratis in November 2019, only the third country to receive this facility from the Indian government.”

He also held forth how the UAE can invest through the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and how ADIA be a force multiplier, despite the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

“India aims to become a $5 trillion (t) economy by 2025. In addition to the potential for bilateral cooperation in existing areas such as realty, infrastructure, and manufacturing, both sides are looking at health and insurance, banking and finance, education and online resources, retail, tourism and hospitality, new and emerging technologies like fintech. The Indian start-up ecosystem with close to 20,000 start-ups is emerging as another platform for bilateral cooperation.