India’s rapidly growing economy coupled with the emerging economies of its neighbours make South Asia a lucrative investment option offering a range of opportunities.

India has a very large domestic market, and resilient private consumption is a major driver of economic growth. The country boasts some of the highest regional export and import growth rates and already has a substantial total trade volume. Barriers to foreign entry are being reduced and the government is keen to attract further foreign investment. A vast supply of inexpensive but skilled labour has turned India into the back office of the world and the region displays enormous potential as an investment destination.

More specifically, areas such as automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electricals, FMCG, banking, financial services, IT and ITES sectors have seen the most activity in the last five years. From our perspective, these are currently the best sectors for investment.

In terms of challenges, volatile political, legal and business environments along with unethical business practices pose a risk to most of the businesses operations in this region. The biggest challenge that most companies/businesses face is the unique architecture of the Indian governance framework, which is badly intertwined with central and state structures.