Indian FDI in US surges to $2.2 billion

New Delhi: After making India the second largest investor in the UK, Indian companies and entities are turning their focus to the US. In 2006-’07, Indian FDI into the US was $2.2 billion while US investment in India was $850 million (minus the Mauritius route), according to US ambassador David Mulford.
Talking to reporters on the state of health of the Indo-US relationship, Mulford said the investments reflected the booming confidence of Indian companies which are now looking at the world as their oyster. Of course, the rising rupee and falling dollar have also had their effect on bilateral trade, impacting the balance favourably from the US point of view. With a $50 billion trade, Mulford said the figures estimated that the growth of US exports to India had gone up by 75% last year, while Indian exports had risen 40-42%. FDI in US: India lags behind
New Delhi: After the UK, Indian companies are making big investments in the US. The average increase in the Indian FDI into the US has been about 75% every year since 2002. India also has the highest annual growth average in Asian investment in the US, the closest being South Korea. However, despite India having breached the billion-dollar mark, Indian investments are way below others. For instance, Japan’s investments in the US are $210 billion, Australia’s $25.7 billion and South Korea’s $9 billion. China also invests more than India but as analysts pointed out that the Chinese have been at it for much longer.
But India’s rate of growth in FDI has been on a gallop. Indian investments have largely been in sectors like professional, scientific and technical services, manufacturing and depository institutions.
In the UK, India had raced ahead in 2006-07 to become the second largest investor in the country, second only to the US, at well over 1 billion pounds. With over 500 Indian companies operating in the UK, the country has established its presence in sectors like IT and ITes, and now manufacturing. Mulford, on his part, said after the open skies agreement with the US, India had bought 154 planes from Boeing in the past two years for $23 billion. Significantly, he said, hi-tech exports from the US to India were now to the tune of $7.1 billion, a huge gain from the time the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP) began.