UAE’s Bin Touq heads to India in search of investment opportunity

UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq headed to India with a bevy of Emirati business leaders in tow as the world’s most populous nation looms ever larger as a magnet for sovereign investment.

Bin Touq is leading a trade delegation that will engage with top government officials and corporate chieftains in India, which is the UAE’s third largest trade partner.

The tour, which will feature a business conference on Wednesday in the framework of the UAE’s Investopia Global Talks, follows reciprocal visits to each other’s country this year by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The UAE is far from alone in courting India. An analysis by U.S.-based Invesco found that 88% of sovereign wealth funds, including all of those in the Middle East, consider the Indian subcontinent to be the most attractive target for investment among emerging markets.

The report notes the interest Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih expressed last year in establishing a branch of the Public Investment Fund in India’s Gujarat International Finance Tec-City and channeling capital to Indian startups.

Also steering investment decisions are the winds of war roaring through Lebanon, Israel, Gaza and the Red Sea, according to Invesco, which found that 95% of the region’s sovereign wealth fund managers see geopolitical tensions as the most serious risk to economic growth over the coming 12 months.