Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has invited global investors to establish manufacturing bases, technology hubs, and innovation centers in India, encouraging them to leverage the country's talent and market opportunities to build products for global markets.
Speaking at a high-level Business Roundtable in Chicago on Friday, Sitharaman pointed to India's broad-based economic growth, ongoing reform momentum, and expanding prospects for long-term investments. The event was organized by India’s Consulate General in Chicago in association with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum.
Sitharaman stated that India's investment proposition relies on the convergence of scale, growth, talent, infrastructure, technology, and consistent policy reforms over the past decade. She urged international business leaders not to view India merely as a consumer market, but as a robust operational platform to serve global demands.
The roundtable focused on the theme "Manufacture in India — for India and for the world," highlighting opportunities across manufacturing, artificial intelligence, digital systems, financial services, infrastructure, food processing, defense, and advanced technologies. Sitharaman noted that as multinational companies reassess global supply chains and capital allocation, India offers deep operating platforms alongside domestic market scale.
Highlighting India's Digital Public Infrastructure—including Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, ONDC, and India Stack—the Finance Minister noted these systems operate at population scale. She added that the next growth phase involves building higher-value enterprises in AI, engineering, analytics, product development, semiconductors, and electronics, with Global Capability Centres expanding into worldwide innovation hubs.
Addressing the financial sector, Sitharaman reported that GIFT City has emerged as an international financial center connecting global capital with Indian opportunities. As of June 2026, GIFT City has 1,250 registered entities operating across banking, fund management, reinsurance, aircraft and ship leasing, sustainable finance, and cross-border services.
Discussing supply chain reconfigurations, Sitharaman emphasized that India presents a mix of a large domestic market and globally competitive manufacturing capabilities, moving beyond assembly into deeper component manufacturing and advanced technologies via production-linked incentives. She also pointed to infrastructure developments, noting that initiatives like dedicated freight corridors and railway modernisation offer opportunities for institutional capital, supported by the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.
Additionally, Sitharaman highlighted potential in agriculture and food processing driven by rising incomes and changing consumption patterns, alongside domestic capability building in drones and autonomous systems through initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat and iDEX. The Finance Minister is currently on a six-day visit to the United States, which includes attending the G-20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, and visiting New York.
"Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's outreach in Chicago underscores India's transition from a consumption market to a core global hub for manufacturing, engineering, and advanced technologies. For startups and businesses, this policy push toward deep tech, AI, semiconductors, and global capability centers signals a stable operating environment. Entrepreneurs should align their long-term strategies with these expanding digital and manufacturing frameworks to tap into both domestic scale and international supply chains." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes
