Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The government has stepped up its outreach to global investors with the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman beginning her nine-day tour of Canada and the US by strongly pitching India as the fastest-growing major economy offering a combination of scale, sustained growth, a young population, expanding consumption and rapidly deepening capital markets.

The FM’s tour has begun at a time when foreign portfolio investment (FPI) has been in negative in the calendar year so far, while foreign direct investment (FDI) has recorded encouraging growth in the first quarter of current fiscal. Her itinerary is investment-heavy, including investor roundtables, meetings with CEOs and financial-sector executives in Toronto, Chicago and New York, apart from the G20 Finance Ministers’ meeting in Asheville.

In her first formal event after reaching Canada, Sitharaman asserted that India’s transformation is structural, driven by rapid urbanisation, a growing middle class and world-class digital infrastructure, which are creating new opportunities across virtually every sector of the economy.

“Our digital ecosystem has also dramatically reduced the cost of access and expanded the reach of financial and commercial services,” she said.

Spotlighting sectors such as insurance and fintech, the FM talked at length about India’s focus on emerging technologies. “Emerging sectors such as semiconductors, magnets and rare earths offer significant potential for Canadian investors. India can also provide trusted and cost-effective supply-chain alternatives for global markets. I invite Canadian investors and rare earth operators to participate more actively in India’s growth story,” she said.

The Minister emphasised that GIFT City has emerged as a global platform for international financial institutions, supported by a regulatory and tax framework designed specifically for cross-border financial activity. “India has progressively opened sectors such as insurance, asset management and pensions to greater foreign participation, while our capital markets have become deeper, more liquid and more sophisticated,” she said.

The FM’s Canada itinerary includes an investment roundtable with representatives from the energy, AI and critical-minerals sectors. She is also meeting Canadian business leaders and CEOs for discussions related to India’s growth prospects and opportunities for greater Canadian investment in the country.

The US leg of the FM’s tour also has a strong investor pitch, with Sitharaman scheduled to hold investor roundtables in Chicago and New York to highlight India’s growth prospects and opportunities for foreign investment. The outreach assumes significance as FPIs, despite turning net buyers in July and August so far, have pulled out more than $24 billion from Indian equities in the calendar year to date, according to NSDL data.

In Chicago, Sitharaman will also visit the University of Chicago’s Polsky Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, before leading the Indian delegation at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Asheville. Her US tour will conclude in New York with high-level investor engagements and ceremonial bell-ringing at NASDAQ.

Published on August 26, 2026