India Inc's October foreign venture investments fall 10%

Mumbai: Indian companies' investment in their overseas ventures continued to be less than the year-ago period for the 19th month in a row as it fell 10.5 per cent to $1.76 billion in October, Reserve Bank data showed.

Indian companies had invested $1.96 billion in their overseas ventures during October 2017, as per the monthly summary on Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) by the RBI.

A review of the monthly data on overseas direct investment reflects a continuous decline of year-on-year figures since April 2017 when it had fallen about 44 per cent to $3.15 billion in April 2017 from $5.61 billion in April 2016. In September, the investment by local companies in overseas firms was $1.58 billion. Of the total $1.76 billion investment in October, $535.86 million was in the form of loans, $653.45 million was infused as equity capital and $567.57 million was through issuance of guarantee.

Six companies were among the major investors in October with an investment of more than $100 million, as per the RBI data.

Global Ivy Ventures made an equity infusion of $200.3 million in its wholly-owned subsidiary in the UK, Tata Communications Ltd issued a guarantee of $199.5 million to its unit in Singapore and GMR Airports Ltd lent $152.71 million to its unit in the Netherlands. Reliance Energy Generation and Distribution Ltd issued a guarantee of $140 million to its unit in the US, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals lent $128.75 million to its unit in Switzerland, Mahindra CIE Automotive invested $116.37 million and $32.8 million in its units in Germany and Mauritius, respectively.