Indian firms' overseas investment up 41% in FY26, closing gap with inward FDI

what happened

Indian businesses are sending capital abroad far faster than foreign investors are putting money into the country. According to a provisional annual census from the Reserve Bank of India, released on November 6 and reported by TradingView, the multiple of inward FDI to overseas direct investment fell to 4.2 times at the end of March 2026, down from 5.5 times a year earlier.

The stock of inward direct investment reached Rs 70.72 lakh crore, up from Rs 65.17 lakh crore, while Indian entities' overseas holdings climbed to Rs 16.71 lakh crore from Rs 11.87 lakh crore. Measured in dollars, inward holdings were $747.13 billion and outward holdings $176.59 billion. The survey covered 43,123 Indian entities, of which 41,814, roughly 97%, were unlisted.

Unlisted firms hold 97.9% of FDI equity at face value and 96.6% of outstanding FDI debt. The United States is the top source of inward FDI at 16.5%, followed by Mauritius at 14.5%, Singapore at 13.7% and the UK at 10.8%. Manufacturing accounts for 50.1% of FDI equity at market value and services for 45%.

why it matters

For markets, the data point to India becoming a larger exporter of capital, which reduces the rupee's reliance on incoming foreign money. The census values also reflect price and exchange-rate revaluations, so they can differ from the flows recorded in balance-of-payments data.

tags

instruments