The UAE’s commitment to investing in India is on track to exceed $100 billion, surpassing its previous target of $75 billion, according to India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal. The announcement came following discussions at the 12th meeting of the India-UAE High Level Task Force on Investments, held on Monday.
During the meeting, both nations explored potential investments across various sectors, including infrastructure, manufacturing, public markets, and more notably, the establishment of exclusive food parks in India to serve the UAE market.
Currently, the UAE has invested $20 billion directly into India, with additional capital flowing in through sovereign wealth funds. Goyal emphasized the positive impact of these investments, noting a significant reduction in India’s trade deficit with the UAE, which has dropped from $22 billion to $12 billion. Additionally, the Indian expatriate population in the UAE has grown to 3.5 million, up from 2.2 million a decade ago.
“The UAE’s investment is two-fold,” explained Goyal. “One is direct investment, which stands at about $20 billion. They also co-invest through other funds worldwide, such as Blackstone and KKR, where a large portion of investments come from UAE sovereign wealth funds.”
As the UAE remains India’s seventh-largest investor, with a 3% share of total foreign direct investment (FDI), cumulative investments from the UAE have reached approximately $20 billion as of June 2024.
A significant portion of future investment will focus on the India-UAE “Food Corridor,” which involves a $2 billion investment to establish food processing facilities and logistics hubs tailored to the UAE’s food market.
The investment is set to be deployed over the next two to two-and-a-half years.
Goyal stated, “The UAE has made an initial commitment of $2 billion. These investments are moving forward, with most of the groundwork already completed.”
The meeting, co-chaired by Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), also reviewed the progress of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), with a particular emphasis on developing a virtual trade corridor and the dedicated food corridor.
Further strengthening bilateral ties, Goyal revealed that Invest India is in the process of establishing an office in the UAE, which will house the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC). In a reciprocal effort, the UAE will open a similar office in New Delhi, further cementing the growing trade cooperation between the two countries.
