Among Brazil, Russia, India and China (or the Bric countries), India emerged as the largest foreign investor in European Union in 2007.
India?s foreign direct investment to EU jumped to 9.5 billion euros in 2007, compared to a mere 500 million euros in 2006. This investment included $11 billion acquisition of the Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus by Tata Steel in early 2007.
India?s investment in the EU has been way ahead of that from China (500 million euros), Russia (1 billion euros) and Brazil (1.9 billion euros), according to Eurostat data. In fact, FDI from China and Russia to the 27-nation EU declined from 2.2 billion euros and 1.5 billion euros.
While Indian companies pumped significant money into EU, the country also received major European investment, much more than China and Brazil. While the EU outflows to India were 10.9 billion euros, they were only 1.8 billion euros to China and 7.1 billion euros to Brazil. However, FDI outflows to Russia were higher at 17.1 billion euros.
?FDI is the category of international investment that reflects the objective of obtaining a lasting interest by an investor in one economy in an enterprise resident in another economy. The lasting interest implies that a long-term relationship exists between the investor and the enterprise, and that the investor has a significant influence on the way the enterprise is managed,? Eurostat said in a statement.
It said interest is formally deemed to exist when a direct investor owns 10% or more of the voting power on the board of directors.