Invest India ambit may include trade promotion

The government is looking to revamp Invest India, the country’s investment promotion and facilitation agency, and could expand its mandate to include trade promotion.

The revamp plan comes after the resignation of its chief executive officer and managing director Deepak Bagla last month. Invest India is under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

“There was a plan to set up a trade promotion body but its incorporation and Cabinet approval would have taken time. So, talks are on to merge the investment and trade functions into one,” said an official.

As per the official, the department of commerce and DPIIT are brainstorming on ways to create synergy between trade and investment.

India’s goods and services exports in FY23 were at a record high of $770 billion while FDI inflows were at $36.75 billion during April-December FY23, 15% lower than the corresponding period in 2021-22.

The commerce department was earlier working to create a dedicated trade promotion body to drive strategy, strengthen ‘Brand India’ and India’s negotiations besides exploring international trade opportunities in untapped markets.

“Like trade and investment go hand in hand, the agency also needs to promote domestic investments along with FDI,” said another person aware of the development.

Invest India, according to its official website, is the advisor, guide and facilitator to every investor looking to make a home in India, offers a one-stop solution to global and domestic investors and works with every major country around the world, and across all Indian states.

Higher focus on domestic investment is crucial as India has introduced production-linked incentive schemes in 14 sectors with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore.