India Top FDI Source Into Dubai With $3 Billion Investment

India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) into Dubai surged to $3.018 billion in 2024 -- a five times jump from $589 million in 2023, making the country the top investor in Dubai, a report has shown. India, the US, France and the UK were top source countries for FDI into the Emirate.

India was the top source country with the highest total estimated FDI capital into Dubai, accounting for 21.5 per cent, followed by the US (13.7 per cent), France (11 per cent), United Kingdom (10 per cent), and Switzerland (6.9 per cent), according to Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism’s Dubai FDI Monitor.

While Greenfield FDI projects in 2024 was at par with 2023 performance of 73.5 per cent, reinvestment FDI projects increased in 2024 to 3.3 per cent from 1.2 per cent in 2023. The number of announced Indian FDI projects also increased to 275 from 249 in 2023. This pushed India from third to second place in project count rankings. According to the report, India’s investments were concentrated in key sectors, with Business Services accounting for 26.9 per cent of projects, followed by software and IT services (23.6 per cent), consumer products (9.8 per cent), food and beverages (8.4 per cent), and real estate (6.9 per cent).

Incidentally, real estate dominated with a 51.4 per cent share, followed by hotels and tourism (9.5 per cent), transportation and warehousing (8.4 per cent), business services (6.4 per cent), and consumer products (6.2 per cent).