India enjoys sweet spot with Sweden

As Swedish firms look to pivot from China in Asian markets, India has emerged as a preferred investment destination for Swedish businesses, said Sweden’s ambassador to India Jan Thesleff.

“There are many Swedish companies that are active in China. We see an appetite from Swedish companies to broaden their presence in Asia. India is one of the preferred choices. We see companies coming in, setting up manufacturing and expanding their business here to put their eggs in different baskets,” Thesleff told Mint.

“Every year, Sweden makes a business climate survey in around 50 countries around the world. We go out to Swedish companies and ask them how they see the business climates, challenges and benefits in establishing themselves in a certain country. In the last survey that was published in 2023, India was the market that had the strongest positive sentiment,” he added.

According to the 2023 Global Business Climate Survey conducted by Business Sweden, 86% of the respondents perceived the business climate in India to be either good or very good, an increase of almost 20 percentage points over 2022.

According to Invest India, the government’s trade promotion agency, India saw FDI inflows of $2.38 billion from Sweden between 2000 and 2023. Sectorslikeautomobiles,electrical equipment and metallurgy attract the most investment. Defence ties have also grown closer with Swedish firm SAAB receiving clearance to establish a 100% FDI manufacturing unit toproduceCarlGustafM4rockets. The investment will total ₹5 billion,accordingtoInvestIndia.

Sweden’s ambassador Jan Thesleff said India is one of the preferred investment choices