DPIIT identifies 106 companies from 30 countries for strategic investments

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has identified as many as 106 companies across sectors from 30 countries under its strategic investment targets initiative, an official said.

The initiative is aimed at promoting investments in the country.

The initiative was recently discussed during a meeting convened by the Commerce and Industry ministry with industry and exporters.

“An outreach was conducted through the ministry and meetings and video conferences are being set-up with leadership of these companies,” the official said, adding that under the initiative, there is also a plan to engage with people of Indian origin (PIO).

The government is taking a series of measures such as reducing the compliance burden, easing foreign direct investment norms, rolling out of logistics policy, announcement of production-linked incentive scheme for 14 sectors, and easing procedures through the national single window system to promote investments into the country.

The official, however, did not disclose the name of the companies and sectors.

“Both the department of commerce and the DPIIT are working together to promote trade and investments in a concerted way,” the official, who did not wish to be named, said.

There are also plans to hold investment roadshows in countries like the US, Canada, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

The initiative assumes significance as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India declined by 22 per cent to USD 46 billion in 2022-23.

Total FDI inflows, which include equity inflows, re-invested earnings and other capital, declined by 16 per cent to USD 70.97 billion in the last fiscal as against USD 84.83 billion in 2021-22.

During April-March 2022-23, Singapore emerged as the top investor with USD 17.2 billion FDI. It was followed by Mauritius (USD 6.13 billion), the US (USD 6 billion), the UAE (USD 3.35 billion), the Netherlands (USD 2.5 billion), Japan (USD 1.8 billion), the UK (USD 1.73 billion), Cyprus (USD 1.27 billion), Cayman island (USD 772 million), and Germany (USD 547 million), according to the DPIIT data.

The FDI inflows have contracted in 2022-23 from Mauritius, the US, the Netherlands, the Cayman Islands, and Germany.

Though the computer software and hardware sector attracted the highest inflows of USD 9.4 billion during the last financial year, these inflows are down as compared with USD 14.5 billion in 2021-22.

Similarly, FDI in the automobile industry dipped significantly to USD 1.9 billion in 2022-23 as compared with about USD 7 billion in 2021-22.

The other sectors which recorded a dip in the inflows in the last fiscal include construction (infrastructure) activities and metallurgical industries.

However, the inflows have recorded growth in sectors, including services (USD 8.7 billion), trading (USD 4.8 billion), telecommunications (USD 713 million), and chemicals (USD 1.85 billion).