India, US sign Investment Incentive Agreement at Quad summit
23 May 2022
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Government of India and the government of the United States of America today signed an Investment Incentive Agreement (IIA) at Tokyo, Japan. This IIA supersedes the Investment Incentive Agreement signed between the two governments in 1997.
Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra and chief executive officer of the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Scott Nathan sighed the agreement.
IIA has been signed, to keep pace with the additional investment support programmes, offered by the DFC, such as debt, equity investment, investment guaranty, investment insurance or reinsurance, feasibility studies for potential projects and grants.
Significant developments have taken place since the signing of the earlier IIA in 1997, including the creation of a new agency called DFC, a development finance agency of the US government, as a successor agency of the erstwhile Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) after the enactment of a recent US legislation, the BUILD Act, 2018.
The Agreement is the legal requirement for DFC, to continue providing investment support in India. DFC or their predecessor agencies are active in India since 1974 and have so far provided investment support worth $5.8 billion of which $2.9 billion is still outstanding. Proposals worth $4 billion are under consideration by DFC for providing investment support in India. DFC has provided investment support in sectors that matter for development such as Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing, healthcare financing, renewable energy, SME financing, financial inclusion, infrastructure etc.
It is expected that the signing of IIA would lead to enhanced Investment support provided by DFC in India, which shall further help in India’s development.
