India emerging as key investment destination amid China's zero-Covid policy

Amid restrictions in view of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, India seems to be emerging as a key investment destination for multinational corporations, according to a Financial Times report. This has also been evident from recent media reports on Apple Inc accelerating plans to partly shift its production outside of China, which has been dominant in the company's supply chain for long.

According to a report by Wall Street Journal, "Apple Inc is telling suppliers to plan more actively for assembling Apple products elsewhere in Asia, particularly India and Vietnam, and looking to reduce dependence on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn Technology Group."  

Earlier in November, Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that India was set to establish the biggest Apple iPhone manufacturing unit in Hosur near Bengaluru.

As foreign investors pumped money in stocks in India over the last week, Indian benchmark Indices, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty, reached new highs, despite economic chaos at the global level, said FT in its report.

According to data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) infused Rs 36,239 crore in Indian stocks in November, which was the second-highest monthly equity purchase in the current year, behind only August's Rs 51,204 crore investment from FPIs.

India has also become the second most highly valued equity market worldwide after New Zealand, reported FT, citing a Societe Generale analysis, which has predicted that the Indian stock market will grow 19.6 per cent in 2023 in terms of earnings per share.

In its latest report, the World Bank raised its projection for India's economic growth in 2022-23 to 6.9 per cent from an earlier forecast of 6.5 per cent. Fitch Ratings also maintained on Tuesday that India's economy could grow at 7 per cent during the current financial year. Fitch Ratings added India could be one of the fastest-growing emerging markets this year.