Amid the current economic downturn, Indian companies, particularly real estate firms, are increasingly reaching out to the diaspora in the Middle East to boost investment prospects.
Recently, the government launched a series of "investment meets" in Muscat to present India’s economic stability to these overseas Indians. This inaugural gathering, conducted on November 12, forms the first of more than 16 similar meetings planned across the Middle East, the UK, and the US, aimed at harnessing the potential of the Indian diaspora, which forms a substantial demographic in these regions.
Col Harmeet Singh Sethi, the head of the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC), outlined that the Indian government and business representatives will focus on regions in the Middle East that have been largely overlooked but promise lucrative opportunities, including areas such as Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bahrain. He emphasized that investment opportunities in sectors like real estate, education, and wealth management are paramount for India’s economic growth as it seeks support from the diaspora. One major challenge identified is the bureaucratic hurdles that complicate investment operations in India. "We were informed that India ranks 83rd as the most challenging country to do business in. Concerns were voiced by business personalities eager to invest in India, but we were able to mitigate their apprehensions considerably," Sethi noted.
Notable attendees of the meeting included prominent firms such as DLF, Career Launcher, and Kotak Mahindra. This investor gathering follows shortly after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Oman, during which he solicited Gulf nations to direct investments towards Indian infrastructure and to aid the country in achieving a 9% growth rate.
India is now directing its focus toward securing significant investments in areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, education, assisted living, wealth management, and of course, real estate. Notably, Indians have consistently sent the highest remittances back home, even surpassing China, capturing one-tenth of the global remittance market, with total remittances from overseas Indians witnessing a steady rise from $2.1 billion in 1990-1991 to an impressive $27.1 billion in 2006-2007.
However, the actual investment influx from this diaspora still lags considerably. Sources indicate that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is eager to transform this strong emotional connection into a financially rewarding relationship.