Intra Regional FDI Flows in South Asia : Current

Status and Future Prospects

Aradhna aggarwal
Associate Professor, University of Delhi
Consultant , ICRIER
March 28-29, 2007
 Objectives

• The objectives of the study are to

• examine emerging trends in regional cooperation in South Asia and analyse, in that
context,

• the magnitude of intra and inter (extra)-regional FDI flows, the main source
countries and the major sectors that have attracted FDI in the region;

• the future prospects of FDI flows to the region; and

• challenges faced by these countries in increasing their attractiveness to foreign

investors.
 The Presentation

• Background and scope of the study (Evolution of Regionalism)

• Regional Integration and FDI : A Theoretical Approach
• Regional Cooperation in South Asia
• Investment Flows in South Asia: The Current Status
• Prospects for FDI in South Asia : The Role of Regionalism
• Challenges
• Conclusions
 Evolution of Regionalism
• A proliferation of formal economic cooperation and economic arrangements aimed at
facilitating and enhancing economic integration at the regional level.
• It is referred to as regionalism

• The most. prominent form of regionalism remains the regional trade agreement (RTA).

• In 1990, : only about 40 agreements in force

• Feb. 2005 : 260 RTAs had been notified to the GATT/WTO of which over 170 RTAs were in
force

• Traditionally, RTAs aim at stimulating trade and cover only trade barriers( Old regionalism)
• Now RTAs are more comprehensive. Three components of RTAs. The need to attract
investment is increasingly cited as an impetus to RTAs. ( New regionalism)

• Regionalism also takes the form of International investment agreements : BITs, DTTs and
PTIAs

• Most studies however focus only on trade effects of regionalism. Emerging literature. This
study examines investment flows in the SAARC region comprising south Asian countries.
 Regionalism in South Asia: Trade Agreements
• SAPTA : 1995.

• SAFTA : 2006. Under the agreement, all non-LDC members would reduce their
existing tariffs to 20% within a time frame of two years from the date of coming
into force of the Agreement.

• In addition to SAFTA, there have been 5 intra/inter-regional free trade agreements :

India- Bhutan, India-Sri Lanka (FTA), Pakistan-Sri Lanka and BIMSTEC
(Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand) and APTA
(India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines China, Lao PDR and Korea).

• There are 7 partial free trade agreements : India-Nepal, India-Bangladesh, India-

Maldives, Bangladesh-Nepal, Bangladesh-Pakistan, Pakistan-Nepal and Sri Lanka-
Nepal.

• All except BIMSTEC are traditional RTAs

 Regionalism in South Asia : Investment Agreements

• A Regional Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment within the

SAARC Region has been under consideration for a long time.

• Bilateral Investment Agreements (BITs) are not common. No. of BITs in which
South Asian countries involved: 109, No. of BITs within the region : 4.

• Other forms of co-operations:

• The SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI)
• SAARC Trade Fairs
• SAARC Finance
• SAARC Development Fund ( Under consideration)

• Regional integration can at best be described as “shallow”, representing old

regionalism.

• Does not rule out the possibility of I effects.

 Regionalism and FDI : The Theoretical Framework
• A RTA could influence investment flows both between its constituent member
countries, and from outside the RTA, in three ways:
• Trade effects:
• Within its constituent members (intra regional FDI) : Stimulating effect if FDI is
vertically integrated/efficiency seeking /export oriented. Dampening effects if it is
domestic market seeking FDI.
• From outside the RTA: stimulating effects by increasing the size of the potential
markets and by raising the fear for future protection.
• Thus, a positive trade impact of such measures on an extra regional FDI, but an
ambiguous effect on intra regional FDI.

• Additional Arguments for favourable impact of trade liberalisation on intra –

regional I :
• Can shift FDI patterns from horizontal to vertical FDI in member countries, resulting in an
increase in the former at the expense of the latter.
• Domestic market seeking investment may not be adversely affected.

• However, the increase in investment may be distributed highly unevenly.

Investment is expected to cluster to those members of RTAs where locational
advantages are favourable.
 Contd

• Effects of Investment provisions:

• The lowering of investment barriers may promote intra-regional FDI, offsetting the
negative trade effects of RTAs.

• Effects of other forms of cooperation:

• favourable

• Dynamic effects:
• RTAs may increase the attractiveness of the region by promoting economic growth
and intensifying competition among member countries for attracting investment.
• The presence of FDI may catalyze the growth of the economy and contribute further
to the growth of FDI .
• FDI by some countries in a country motivate the others to enter the country. The
herding effect may also have favourable impact on overall investment.

• Overall effects : The overall effects are more likely to be positive. Empirically, there
seems to be a general agreement that RTAs generate FDI stimulating effects but the
degree of success varies across RTAs.
Net inflows of FDI into SAARC countries in selected years : 1980-
2005 ( less than 1% of world FDI inflows over 2001-05

  1990-2000 2003 2004 2005

Bangladesh 190 (2.5) 350 (2.9) 460.43 (3.4) 692 (4.9)
Bhutan 2 (0.1) 1.06 (0.3) 1 (0.1) 1 (0.2)
India 1705(3.0) 4585(3.4) 5474(3.1) 6598(3.5)
Nepal 11(0.6) 14.78(1.3) .. 5 (0.4)
Pakistan 463 (7.2) 534 (4.2) 1118(7.5) 2183(13.0)
Sri Lanka 159 (5.6) 228.72(5.7) 233 (4.7) 272 (5.2)
Maldives 9 (7.6) 14(7.2) 15(5.4) 14(4.8)
 South Asia 2539(2.3) 5727.56(3.5) 7301.43(3.4) 9765 (4.3)
Asia 76616(8.0) 110489(7.7) 157328(9.4) 199951(11.1)
Developing countries 134670(8.9) 175138(9.3) 275032(10.7) 334285(12.8)
World 495391(7.6) 557869(7.3) 710755(7.7) 916277(9.4)

Note : Parentheses show the ratio of FDI to gross capital formation

Source : UNCTAD 2006
Table 4: Share of Individual Countries in SAARC FDI Inflows in Selected
Years ( 1990-2005)

  1990-2000 2003 2004 2005

Share in South Asia’s FDI inflows :

Bangladesh
7.48 6.11 6.31 7.09
Bhutan 0.08 0.02 0.01 0.01
India 67.15 80.05 74.97 67.57
Nepal
0.43 0.26 0.05
Pakistan 18.24 9.32 15.31 22.36
Sri Lanka 6.26 3.99 3.19 2.79
Maldives 0.35 0.24 0.21 0.14
Share of South Asia in:
Asia 3.31 5.18 4.64 4.88
Developing countries
1.89 3.27 2.65 2.92
World 0.51 1.03 1.03 1.07
 Trends in FDI outflows from South Asia

1990-2000 2003 2004 2005

Bangladesh 4 6 6 10
Bhutan Nil Nil Nil Nil
India 121 1325 2024 1364
Nepal Nil Nil Nil Nil
Pakistan 5 19 56 44
Sri Lanka 7 27 6 38
Maldives 1 Nil Nil Nil
South Asia 124 1378 2092 1456
Share of India in South Asia (%)
87.68 96.22 96.75 93.68
Share of South Asia in Asia (%)
0.37 7.25 2.51 1.74
Share of Asia in Developing countries
66.0 53.4 74.0 71.2
Share of Developing countries in world (%)
6.3 13.9 15.1 11.8
 Share of 5 top investors in Individual South Asian Countries (%)

India Bangladesh (2004) Pakistan (2003-5) Nepal Sri Lanka

(upto 2005-06) (1979-00)
US 11.4 9.24 27.78 15.78
EU 22.7 18.0 19.36
UK 7.0 16.26 12.60 13.9
Netherlands 5.9
Germany - 1.25 1.73
Norway 26.59 3.71
Japan 7.5 2.88 12.1
UAE - 12.35
Mauritius 35.6 3.91
Singapore 1.8 16.5
South Korea 9.13 11.5
Hong kong 4.92 10
Vir. islands 4.49
China 10.52
India 40.71
114 30 35 (excl. unspecified 50 NA
Total investing countries countries)
 Table 7 : Intra Regional FDI Inflows (% of country total)

Host country India Bangladesh Pakistan (2003- Nepal Bhutan

(2005-06) (2004) 5) (2005-06)

India - 1.0 .01 40.71 ONE*

Bangladesh Neg - 0.75

Pakistan - 0.68 - 0.47

Nepal .0006 - - -

Sri Lanka .01 0.77 - 0.13

Bhutan .0002 .01

 able 9 : Share of top 5 investors in South Asia since 2002 ( No. of

projects)

Sri Lanka Pakistan Bangladesh India

India 19 (40%) 9 (6%) 14 (27%)

US 8 (17%) 26(18%) 8 (16%) 1267 (46%)

UK 3(6%) 4 (8%) 300(11%)

Germany 2(6%) 9(6%) 7 (14%) 195(7%)

Japan 142 (5%)

France 102(4%)

Malaysia 3 (4%)

China 12(9%)

UAE 18(13%)

Total 54 1500 51 3051

 Intra-Regional Investment
• In Pakistan: Indian companies are allowed to invest in Pakistan recently. TCS,
Dabur, VSNL, Reliance are some of the companies taking initiatives.
• Indian investment is into :
• Bangladesh: India’ I : Services, Chemicals and Fabricated metals and light eng.
While Pakistan Co. invested in non metallic sector and food and beverages.
• Nepal : Indian joint ventures are in practically every sector, including tourism,
infrastructure, consumer durables & non-durables and export oriented industries
like garments and carpets. A number of Indian companies, including Dabur,
Hindustan Lever, Colgate, etc., have established their manufacturing base in Nepal

• Sri Lanka: The principal sectors which have attracted Indian investment are steel,
cement, rubber products, tourism, computer software, IT-training and other
professional services. During the past three years, leading Indian companies such as
Gujarat Ambuja, Asian Paints and Larsen and Toubro have committed substantial
investments, while existing companies -CEAT and Taj Hotels, for example -have
expanded their operations . Of the total equity invested by Indian companies in
regional joint ventures, 54% are located in Sri Lanka.

• There is huge potential not only for large companies but also for SMEs if
investment is facilitated within the region.
 Future Prospects

• Macro dynamism : High growth prospects,Industrial dynamism and

emergence of the service sector

• Regional cooperation : SAFTA replaced SAPA, New RTAs

proposed.
• Multilateral liberalisation
 Macro economic dynamics of South Asian Economies

  India Bangladesh Nepal Pakistan Sri Bhutan Maldives Total

L
a
n
k
a

PPP GDP (2005-6) 3787 296 42 366 89  2.9  1.25 4580

GDP $ mn (2005-6) 785 60 7.3 107.3 23.48  .84  .82 983.1

Population 1049.5 143.8 24.6 149.9 18.9 2.2 0.339 1389.2

Median Age (yrs) 24.4 21.5 19.9 19.4 29.1 20.2 17.5 21.7

Population growth rate 1.3 1.6 1.8 2.1 1 2.1 2.7 1.8
2004-20

GDP growth rate 8.1 6.2 2.8 7.6 5.8 7 9 6.6

Export 25 17.2 10.3 14.7 10.3 39.3 17 19.1

Imports 34.4 15.3 15.7 30 13.3 28.8 24 23.1

Regionalism: How can deeper forms of regionalism promote
FDI inflows?

• SAFTA replaced SAPA, New RTAs proposed.

• Lowering of tariff and non tariff barriers

• Inclusion of Services
• Inclusion of investment provisions
• Other forms of cooperation
 Lowering of trade and non trade barriers:Intra regional I

• There is general pessimism regarding the effects of SAFTA on trade and

investment. Many argue that intra-regional trade a small fraction (4.5%) of total
trade of the region even after considerable liberalisation (The intra-EU trade is 55
percent, intra-NAFTA trade stands at 61 percent and intra-ASEAN trade is 25
percent of its total trade) because these countries share some basic similarities
which reduce the potential for comparative advantage driven trade. These
similarities will discourage trade generated FDI effects as well.

• But the problem in SAARC region seems to be more political than economic .
Taneja shows that there has been a considerable amount of "informal" trade among
member countries of the region. This was not only to evade the high tariffs that
must be paid on official trade, but also to carry out some trade that would not have
been permitted at all. Mohanty identifies more than 1500 products as potential items
for trade in the region and the region is capable of absorbing them. Yet the trade
flows remain low.
 Are the prospects insignificant due to similarities in the
structure of the economies

Rank Competitiveness index

rank basic efficiency innovativ GCI score basic efficiency Innovativ PCY Adult
requ enhan en index requirem enhancers en litera
irem cers ess ent ess cy
ent rate
(%)
India 43 60 41 26 58.6 57.3 52.9 61.9 748.42 61.3
Srilanka 79 80 79 67 41.4 49.2 32.5 32.4 1242.3 97.2
Pakistan 91 93 91 60 35.0 41.8 24.7 34.2 738.7 41.5
Banglades 99 96 108 104 29.0 40.7 16.2 15.0 416.95 41.1
h
Nepal 110 106 117 111 23.0 33.6 11.7 11.8 298.62 44
Bhutan - - - - - - - - 861 47
Maldives - - - - - - - - 2367 92.6
C.V. 30.5 21.5 37.3 54.0 36.6 20.3 58.9 64.2

Source: GCR, 2006 and WDI

 Composition of Export baskets of South Asian

Countries at two digit level: 2004

India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Bangladesh Maldives

Textiles 21.5 Textiles 50.6 Textiles 68.9 Textiles 86 Textile 85.8 Anima 55.4
s l
Stone 17.2 metals 10.2 Vegetab 7.3 Vegetables 17 Anima 5.6 Textile 32
les l s
Chemicals 10.6 Fats and 9.3 Leather 5.8 Plastic 6.5 Leathe 3 Foodst 12.3
Oils r uff

Minerals 9.1 Chemicals 6.6 Vehicles 3 stone 4.7

Metals 9 Vegetables 6 Furnitur 2.8 Mechanical 3.2

e

Mechanical 7 foodstuffs 5.5 Mineral 2.8 Metal 3

s

Vegetables 6.4 Plastics 2.9

Plastics 3.2

Vehicles 3.1
 This implies…
• that countries vary widely in the quality and capacity of their scientific and
technical infrastructures and business sophistication. They are pursuing similar
macro economic policies but are differentiated in terms of sophistication of
economic activities and innovativeness.

• This in turn means

• that there are possibilities of vertically integrated intra regional FDI. Theoretically,
vertical FDI can also occur in South-South RTAs if there are sufficiently large
differences between the members in incomes and other determinants of factor
prices.

• Since domestic market seeking I is negligible, replacement effect is almost nil.

• India-Sri Lanka FTA and Investment

 Extra-regional: Size advantage of combined markets

  India Bangladesh Nepal Pakistan Sri Bhutan Maldives Total

La
nk
a
GNI ($ bn) 793 66.2 7.3 107.3 22.8 0.799 0.787 998.186

PPP GNI 3787 296 42 366 89     4580

GDP $bn 785,468 59,958 7346 110732 23479     986.9

GDP growth 8.5 5.4 - 7.8 5.3

rate

Population 1049.5 143.8 24.6 149.9 18.9 2.2 .339 1470

Population 1.3 1.6 1.8 2.1 1.0

growth
rate (%)
2004-20
 Extra-regional Efficiency seeking FDI

• Though the theoretical literature has not considered the impact of lowering
of trade barriers on inter-regional FDI inflows, one can argue that due to
proximity, outsiders can also exploit the locational advantages by setting
up different processes across different countries within the region.

• This will promote efficiency seeking investment from outside the RTA
also.
 Inclusion of Investment provisions

• Lowering of I barriers for firms from member countries may have positive impact
not only on efficiency seeking intra regional FDI but also on intra regional domestic
market seeking FDI flows.

• There are many SMEs or even large enterprises from developing countries that
look for investment opportunities in not so sophisticated markets in small
neighbouring countries. Lowering of investment barriers can provide an impetus to
such investment.

• Until mid-April 2002, around 50% of foreign enterprises have been registered as
SME enterprises. A large number of such companies were from India.

• There are larger benefits from FDI from developing countries in terms of
employment, technology spillovers and learning due to the use of labour intensive
medium technologies as in Nepal.

• This will also upgrade the capabilities of Regional firms (Investment Development
Path : Dunning
 Inclusion of Services
• Rapid expansion of services in all these economies.

• While Pakistan and Sri Lanka have advantages in transport and tourism, Maldives
has advantage in Travel and tourism. India has advantage in IT and IT enabled
services. Thus there is a scope for regional cooperation and FDI in services.

• Most services are non tradables and require commercial presence of the service
providers. Inclusion of services therefore is expected to promote FDI in services.

• Inclusion of services in RTAs will also facilitate the cross border movement of
people.

• A substantial portion of Indian FDI in neighbouring countries has been in the

service sector .
 Promoting other forms of Cooperation

• Trade facilitation : harmonisation of trade documentation and rules; unhindered

movement of goods, better connectivity, mutual recognition of standards through
accredited testing laboratories.

• Joint project for the development of infrastructure and power.

• Freer movement of natural persons across borders

• Deeper cooperation between business chambers.
 Multilateral liberalisation

• Economic Reforms since 1990s.

• FDI: Pre-entry policy space in all the countries but post entry national treatment.

• Wall Street index of barriers in 2000 for South was 3 on the scale of 1-5 which was
the same as the raking for other developing countries. Since then, the FDI regimes
have further liberalised.

• Of all the South Asian Countries, Pakistan follows the most liberal FDI policies
followed by Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan in that
order.
 Future Prospects of FDI Flows
• Most South Asian initiated economic reforms in the 1990s and liberalised FDI
policies substantially.

• Although their share in global FDI inflows increased gradually, it still remains very
low.

• Further, intra regional flows have been abysmally small.

• Apparently, macro economic reforms and liberalisation of FDI alone did not yield
substantial benefits.

• And, the countries could not exploit the potential of regionalism in promoting inter
and intra- regional FDI inflows due to shallow integration.

• We propose that if the regional initiatives allow for "deeper" forms of integration,
synergies generated will promote FDI inflows into the region.

• Future prospects are directly related with regional cooperation .

 Priority sectors
• These are emerging economies. The process of industrial diversification is at different stages
in different countries. Thus there are several sectors which are identified as priority sectors
and where FDI can be promoted.

• Bhutan : Agro Based processing, finance, Travel and tourism, hydro electrical power, IT

• Nepal : travel and tourism, Hotels and restaurants, IT. Keen on investment in infrastructure,
hydropower and roads.

• Pakistan : Financial, IT, Gas and oil explorations, trade construction and power.

• Bangladesh: Textile, services, agro based, chemicals, glass& ceramic

• India : Infrastructure, Power, telecommunication, Engineering, services (IT), electronics and

electrical equipment and computers.

• Sri Lanka : Textiles, Pharmaceuticals, Auto, Software, Gems and Jewellery, light
engineering, electronics.

Requirement of less advanced technologies/ more labour intensive technologies, cultural affinity
may be vital in determining FDI flows.
 Challenges
• The major challenge is to improve investment climate in the region. This will
promote not only intra-regional I but also inter-regional I. Further, intra regional I
will itself result into investment from outsiders due to herding effects and efficiency
effects.
• The following bottlenecks need to be addressed”
• Political factors:
• Political mistrust
• Psyche to look to the west
• Domestic barriers:
• Administrative barriers
• Complex trade and custom rules
• Corruption
• Poor trade and production infrastructure
• Poor connectivity between countries
Cluster and SEZ approach can play a vital role.
 Governance (IFC surveys)

Average time Time spent in Official Unofficial Bribes to Tax Bribes to

spent government predictability payments official secure
with regulations s contract
tax
official
s

East Asia & Pacific 4.91 7.25 51.86 1.81 33.59 1.82

Europe & Central Asia 2.82 5.4 45.13 1.04 44.79 1.57

Latin America & Caribbean 2.75 10.39 40.11 1.52 6.83 2.94

Middle East & North Africa 3.52 9.94 50.87 2.72 40.09 1.3

OECD 1.65 2.97 57.52 0.13 28.26 0.55

South Asia 3.19 7.1 61.52 2.02 46.94 3.32

Sub-Saharan Africa 4.41 8.55 48.97 1.94 20.74 4.04

 Infrastructure

Delays in electrical No.of electrical outage Value lost due to No. of water Delays in telephone
connection electrical supply connections
outage failure

East Asia & Pacific 12.02 7.04 2.39 1.86 9.32

Europe & Central Asia 7.4 11.65 3 5 10.33

Latin America & Caribbean 26.49 14.91 3.26 9.06 37.47

Middle East & North Africa 43.84 44.27 4.69 34.54 51.46

OECD 8.32 1.14 2.25 0.18 7.91

South Asia 48.18 109.2 5.56 7.57 53.85

Sub-Saharan Africa 38.12 51.96 4.78 29.82 51.39

 Trade Rules

Average export clearance Longest export Average time to claim imports Longest time to claim imports from
time clear time from customs customs

East Asia & Pacific 3.71 5.98 4.89 8.98

Europe & Central Asia 2.91 5.4 3.51 25

Latin America & Caribbean 4.79 9.16 7.22 14.72

Middle East & North Africa 5.14 9.43 10.3 21.29

OECD 4.63 8.33 5.28 9.4

South Asia 7.72 12.66 10.08 17.54

Sub-Saharan Africa 4.45 8.69 7.37 14.55

 Legal system

Confidence level in the legal

system

East Asia & Pacific 65.83 8.66 56.63

Europe & Central Asia 55.18 12.59 30.92

Latin America & Caribbean 55.48 7.66 78.06

Middle East & North Africa 66.63 31.59 76.94

OECD 73.6 14.82 60.49

South Asia 53.72 12.29 93.06

Sub-Saharan Africa 60.42 10.33 83.43

 Other factors
• Political instability, Law and order, Visa
rules, trade unionism (affiliation with
political parties)