Deconstructing Indian Overseas Foreign Direct Investments – Historical & Contemporary Trends

The Indian public and private sector have been investing in manufacturing and services in overseas markets for decades with the scale of such investments having accelerated markedly since the turn of the millennium. As its economy continues to grow, Indian businesses and corporations have managed to establish footprints in new geographies and generate greater returns.

This discussion paper delves into the architecture of Indian overseas foreign direct investment and trace its historical and contemporary trends, existing legislation to enable and monitor such flows, and undertakes a short case study on OFDI flows to sub-Saharan African nations which have emerged as a key market for Indian businesses. The paper also makes recommendations towards aiding research on Indian OFDI, a key South South Cooperation tool, which remains a little understood field of inquiry domestically.