India Inc’s outward FDI halves to $1.93 billion in March: RBI data

MUMBAI: India Inc’s outward foreign direct investment in March 2021 nearly halved to $1.93 billion (around Rs 14,495 crore), according to the RBI data.

Domestic firms had invested $3.86 billion as outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the year-ago month of March 2020.

In the preceding month (February 2021), the OFDI stood nearly the same at $1.95 billion.

Of the total investment committed by the Indian investors in their foreign joint ventures/wholly owned subsidiaries in March this year, $1.15 billion was in the form of issuance of guarantees.

Rest of $413.25 million was in the form of loan and $363.54 million was through equity capital, the data showed.

The major investors were telecom major Bharti Airtel Ltd $750 million in a wholly owned unit in Mauritius; pharma firm Lupin Ltd $250 million in a JV in the US, SRF Ltd $83.83 million in a wholly owned subsidiary (WoS) in the Netherlands.

Mahindra & Mahindra invested $84.52 million in WoS in Mauritius and The Indian Hotels Co Ltd $59.59 million in its wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands.

The RBI said the data is provisional and subject to change based on the online reporting by the authorised dealer (AD) banks.