Amid India’s rising tensions with Turkiye and Azerbaijan and growing calls for boycott, the focus is now on the value of investment flowing into these nations from Indian companies.
Overseas direct investments (ODI) data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that both nations get a miniscule share of foreign direct investment from India and the areas of business are not too strategic.
(Chart created by Yashaswani Chauhan)
The total overseas direct investment into Azerbaijan by Indian companies was $123 million in FY25 and $66 million in FY24 with the share of quarterly investment in the country as a percentage of total outward FDI from India in the range of 0.2 to 0.7 per cent. The numbers are even smaller for Turkiye. The total overseas investment into Turkiye from India was $8.7 million in FY25 and $4.4 million in FY24. The share of investments in West Asian country hovered in the range of 0.01 to 0.03 per cent in this period.
For April 2025, a total of $6 million was invested in Azerbaijan and Turkiye as part of the country’s total outbound foreign direct investment.
(Chart created by Yashaswani Chauhan)
Company investment
Analysis of companies making the investment shows that majority (over 80 per cent) of the investments into Azerbaijan is from ONGC Videsh, the international subsidiary of ONGC. ONGC has two projects in the country- one in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil field and the other is Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project.
As for Turkiye, the outbound investment from India is mostly smaller ticket sizes pertaining to companies with joint ventures or those sending money to wholly owned subsidiaries. These are mostly small-time trade/retail, manufacturing, and logistics players. Some of the better-known names who feature in the list in the last six months are Wipro PARI (Wipro’s robotics and automation equipment entity), Axiro Semiconductors, LINC Ltd, Carysil, and others.
Analysts say that outbound investment in Turkiye and Azerbaijan is too small to matter in the context of strained relations between the two countries.
“While in Turkiye, the investment has been mostly in retail/wholesale trade and manufacturing, the investment in Azerbaijan is focused largely on energy sectors, especially oil and gas,” Paras Jasrai, Associate Director, India Ratings & Research, said.
“Azerbaijan importance is more from the energy security and the International North-South Transport Corridor point of view. Turkiye’s strategic geographic location as a gateway to Europe and its growing economy and favourable demography is its key business strength. Indian companies rely on the country’s role as a regional hub, for its robust export sectors and ongoing investments in infrastructure and innovation-to drive growth and competitiveness,” he added.