Indian firms' overseas direct investment in equity instruments saw a sharp jump of 27% in the Month of March according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Monday.
The equity instrument investment rose month-on-month to $1.458 billion from $1.146 billion in February, before war in the Middle East began, the Reserve Bank added. Before that, the investment stood at $2.563 billion in the year-ago period the RBI said.
In March 2026, the top five companies accounted for nearly half of the overseas direct investments in equities, and were led by Tata Steel at $444 million.
According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data, Tata Steel was followed by Eclat Health Solutions India at $98.7956 million, Aspire Systems India at $88.2863 million, Navashakti Renewables at $77.4046 million, and Quality Care India at $52.5678 million.
Further, total financial commitments, including debt and guarantees issued, surged sharply in March to $7.06 billion from the $2.965 billion in February 2026 and $5.539 billion in March last year.
This surge in March was on the back of higher commitments in the guarantees issued of $4.91 billion. Financial commitments through guarantees issued remained highest by Tata Motors of $2.62 billion in March, which was followed by $660 million by Renew, and $558.25 million by Jindal Power.
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From a country perspective, Singapore led, accounting for $414 million of overseas direct investment in equities in the three months to March, while the Netherlands followed at number two by bagging $285 million worth of equity investments from Indian companies.
Interestingly, the United Arab Emirates received $129.58 million in investments in Q4, as per the RBI data. In the loan segment, United Arab Emirates received the highest loan commitment from India worth $223.94 million, and Mauritius worth $146.27 million, the data showed.
(With Inputs from PTI)
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