New Delhi: Seven foreign firms and four central government companies are among more than 15,300 businesses registered in the country in June, showed data from the ministry of corporate affairs.
The foreign businesses registered for starting operations here are producers of heavy machinery for various industries, makers of construction and earth moving equipment and providers of engineering and testing services, while the central government companies registered in June are in the business of power transmission, showing that the infrastructure sector is attracting new investors.
UK’s Auger Torque Europe Ltd, one of the foreign businesses which registered for commencing India operations, makes earth drill and attachments and is part of Germany’s Kinshofer Group that makes attachments for truck cranes and excavators, according to information available from the company’s website.
Japan’s Kawada Industries, Inc. another foreign business registered with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in June, is part of the KTI Kawada Group, which is into building, maintaining and preserving infrastructure and into developing humanoid robots, as per information publicly available from the company.
Institut Fuer Oekologie, Technik and Innovation Gmbh, a third company that has registered in June in India, is into providing testing and certification services for different industries.
Japan’s Tomoe Engineering Co. Ltd., another foreign company registered in India in June is into producing machinery, equipment and chemicals.
Bangladesh-based Sonali Bank Plc., a Russian heavy machinery producer and a UAE based energy company are also among the new foreign entities registered for India operations, official data showed.
Emails sent to the companies on Thursday seeking comments for the story remained unanswered at the time of publishing.
Engineering services companies and equipment makers are increasingly showing interest in doing business in India at a time the government is giving a strong impetus to building infrastructure with enhanced capital expenditure through central and state budgets.
Investments in fixed assets like plant, machinery and buildings by companies, households and the government stood at above ₹58 trillion in FY24, showing a near 9% annual growth, according to provisional estimates by the statistics ministry.
Experts confirmed that there is a significant rise in overseas companies entering the Indian engineering and construction sector.
“This trend aligns with the Indian government’s increased focus on infrastructure development, driven by its ambitious capital expenditure plans. This creates a fertile ground for foreign firms with expertise in areas like high-speed rail, airport infrastructure, and advanced construction technologies. Some of these foreign firms specialize in design engineering services which are critical in these projects,” explained Vikash Thakur, Entity Setup and Management at Nexdigm, a business and professional services company.
The government’s push for bullet trains, metro projects and industrial corridors presents lucrative opportunities for foreign engineering and construction companies to contribute their expertise, Thakur said. India boasts a large pool of skilled engineers and construction professionals, offering a cost-effective and efficient workforce for foreign firms while the country’s robust economic growth signifies a rising demand for high-quality infrastructure, making it an attractive market for foreign players, he said.
The new public sector companies of the central government registered in June are in the power transmission business. Bijapur REZ Transmission Ltd., Chitradurga Bellary REZ Transmission Ltd., Kudamkulam ISTS Transmission Ltd. and Jam Khambhaliya Transmission Ltd. are the four state-run companies registered in the just concluded month.
These were set up by PFC Consulting Ltd. (PFCCL) an arm of Power Finance Corp. Ltd. (PFC). REZ stands for renewable energy zone and ISTS stands for inter-state transmission system. The special purpose vehicles were created as part of a government plan to bid out the transmission projects, according to a stock exchange filing by PFCCL.