India, top recipient of FDI in commonwealth group

Between 2005 and 2016, India remained the top recipient of greenfield FDI from the Commonwealth, more than doubling the amount it received over 10 years

April 11, 2018

India is the leading country for attracting greenfield FDI, not only from the Commonwealth but also from the world

India is among top five sources of services in the Commonwealth, surpassing Canada, along with Australia, Singapore and UK

The top sources of intra-Commonwealth investment are the UK, followed by India and Malaysia and Singapore

The report highlighted a ‘dramatic rise’ in increased rate of intra-Commonwealth investment as driven by India

India has emerged as the top recipient of greenfield foreign investment among the commonwealth block of 53 countries over the period of 2003–2016, as per a report by the Commonwealth Secretariat in April 2018. The report, “Commonwealth Trade Review 2018: Strengthening the Commonwealth Advantage”, stated that the total intra-Commonwealth greenfield investment during the period was US$700 billion. Meanwhile, it was found that intra-Commonwealth trade and greenfield investment is on track to cross US$1 trillion by 2020. Additionally, India has also moved into the top five providers of services trade in the Commonwealth, surpassing Canada, along with Australia, Singapore and the UK.

The cumulative foreign investment assets in the Commonwealth is currently touted at over US$5 trillion, from global sources. The top five FDI recipients during the period were UK, Singapore, Canada, Australia and India. The five nations accounted for nearly 80 per cent of total FDI inflow in the block. Concurrently, the leading sources of intra-Commonwealth investment were UK, India and Malaysia and Singapore. The  report also highlighted upon a “dramatic rise” in the increased prominence of intra-Commonwealth investment as driven by India. In total, Commonwealth states held about 20 per cent of global FDI stock in 2016, considerably more than their share of global GDP at around 14 per cent.

Separately, Commonwealth Asian members – Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka – accounted for 41.1 per cent of the combined total Commonwealth exports of goods and services in 2016. This represented a significant increase from 31.4 per cent in 2005. From the group, India, Singapore and Malaysia came up as the dominant contributors, accounting for 38 per cent of total Commonwealth exports and 93 per cent of Commonwealth Asian exports. The UK, India and Singapore also constituted the largest importers from within the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth report comes amid Indian Government’s measures to boost investors confidence.

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