$47bn in FY26. The firms moving capital internationally have changed. So has the opportunity
India’s outbound FDI reached a record $47 billion in FY26, up from $41.6 billion the previous year. The headline number is receiving attention across investment promotion circles globally. The composition beneath it is not – and that is precisely where outreach strategies are misfiring.
Financial services now account for 42.5% of India’s outward FDI, a share that has risen from 14.5% in FY17.
Manufacturing’s share has moved in the opposite direction, falling to 15% in FY26 from 22.9% in FY22. The firms moving capital abroad today are predominantly technology-led businesses, software services platforms, outbound M&A vehicles, and wholesale trade operators – not the industrial manufacturers that most IPAs in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf have built their India pipelines around. The shift is not marginal. It is a structural recomposition of who is actually moving Indian capital internationally.
The destination map is changing in parallel. Singapore now accounts for 30% of total Indian outward FDI flows,
followed by the United States at 13.6%, Mauritius at 12.5%, and the Netherlands at 10.6%. Understanding the
corridor logic – which destinations Indian capital flows through, and why – is now as strategically important as
understanding sector composition. A destination that appears on the right corridor has an inherent advantage over one that simply has the right incentive package.
The practical implication for investment promotion agencies is uncomfortable but clear. A pitch built around
manufacturing incentives, industrial zones, and capex subsidies is being directed at a cohort that is shrinking in relative terms. The faster-growing pipeline sits in financial services, technology, and knowledge-intensive sectors. It also operates through different channels entirely: the decision-makers in this cohort are not found at standard investment promotion events, do not respond to generic country-level marketing, and often finalise location decisions before any formal process has begun.
India’s outbound investment story is not new to IPAs. The composition shift is. Agencies that update their targeting now will find a less competitive field, a more relevant value proposition, and a pipeline that is actively growing. The data has already moved. The question is whether the strategy has.
Nueconomy tracks outbound investment intent from India across sectors and corridors through CUE, our proprietary company-level expansion intelligence platform.
If you are an investment promotion agency reassessing your investment promotion strategy for Indian outbound investors, we can help you identify where the real opportunity sits.
hello@nueconomy.co · thenueconomy.com
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