New Delhi: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the UAE’s largest sovereign wealth fund, on Monday commenced its India operations after obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals and opening its office in the GIFT City in Gujarat. 

The office is expected to drive further intensification of ADIA’s investment activities in the country, it was announced during the 12th meeting of the India-UAE high-level joint task force on investments in Mumbai co-chaired by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Subsequently, ADIA announced setting up an Alternative Investment Fund in GIFT City to hold all its India-related investments. Since its establishment, GIFT City in Ahmedabad is fast emerging as a leading global financial and technology hub, providing a thriving financial ecosystem to support and expand businesses.

During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Abu Dhabi in July this year, it was announced that ADIA would establish a presence in GIFT City. Meanwhile, the iconic India Pavilion at the Expo City in Dubai will host the first overseas campus of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). IIFT is likely to move into its premises by early 2025 with short and medium-term training programmes, research and eventually with launch of its flagship programme, MBA (International Business).

The campus will be a boon for the 3.5 million-strong Indian community residing in the UAE. It will also open doorways for the overseas expansion and recognition of the IIFT brand. Commerce Minister said that IIFT’s new campus at Dubai would be a landmark decision in transforming it into a world-class institute in real sense.

“Moreover, with IIFT’s expertise in the area of foreign trade, it would provide opportunity for students, professionals and government officials not only from the UAE but from other parts of the world too for training and research in the area of international trade,” Goyal added. The UAE continues to be the largest Arab investor in India, with investments amounting to around $3 billion in FY 2023-24.

Two of the world’s largest chipmakers, TSMC and Samsung Electronics, have discussed building potential chip projects in the United Arab Emirates in coming years which could be worth more than $100 billion (roughly Rs. 8,35,311 crore), the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Top executives at TSMC have visited the UAE recently and talked about a plant complex on par with some of the company’s largest and most advanced facilities in Taiwan, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the interactions.

South Korea-based Samsung Electronics, a maker of smartphones, TVs and memory chips, is also considering major new chip-making operations in the country in the years ahead, the paper said.

TSMC told Reuters it had no new investment plans to announce.

“We are always open to constructive discussion on ways to promote development of the semiconductor industry, but we remain focused on our current global expansion projects and have no new investment plans to disclose at this time,” it said in a statement on Monday, without elaborating.

Samsung declined to comment on the WSJ report.

Senior figures at Samsung Electronics visited UAE recently and discussed the idea, WSJ reported, adding that the discussions were still in the early phases and may face technical and other hurdles.

Under initial terms being discussed, the projects would be funded by the UAE, with a central role for Abu Dhabi-based sovereign development vehicle Mubadala, according to WSJ.

The paper added that the broader goal would be to increase global chip production and help bring prices down without hurting chip-makers’ profitability.

As tech deals in the region speed up, Washington has become increasingly concerned about the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries becoming a conduit for advanced US AI technology reaching China.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

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