Saudi Arabia to Invest in India via Establishment of a SWF Office
To facilitate investments in the country, Saudi Arabia is considering establishing a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) office in India. Furthermore, the country intends to use venture capital to invest in Indian start-ups.
The country's Investment Minister, Khalid A. Al Falih, announced on Sept 11 that a delegation would travel to India in the coming weeks to investigate the opportunity. He also stated that his delegation would travel to Gift City, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
"I will match your offer and commit today to opening an office in India for investment facilitation," said Al Falih. We're talking about bidirectional (facilitation)."
The announcement was made by the Investment Minister during the India-Saudi Arabia Investment Forum, which was also attended by India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
The Saudi Minister also expressed an interest in investing in Indian start-ups that serve the Saudi market through venture capital funds.
"Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we will create a joint agreement between our national venture capital fund and their counterpart in India to channel venture capital and funding to startups that will have the opportunity to leverage out two markets," the Investment Minister said.
It is worth noting that Saudi investments in India stand at $3.22 billion between April 2000 to June 2023. These investments have been made by government-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF) in Indian companies that are beyond their start-up stage.
After hearing the Saudi Minister’s interest in India, the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister also suggested that India plans on setting up an office in Riyadh which will be partnered by FICCI and Invest India and some officials of the commerce and industry ministry. "