Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. @nsitharaman addressed a high-level Business Roundtable with leading investors and business leaders in Chicago today, highlighting India’s broad-based growth, reform momentum and expanding opportunities for long-term investment. A key focus of the meeting was “Manufacture in India — for India and for the world”, with opportunities across manufacturing, AI & digital, financial services, infrastructure, food processing, defence and advanced technologies. In her address to the investors, the Union Finance Minister outlined "Why India, Why Now" — a combination of strong domestic demand, investment-led growth, macroeconomic resilience, a deep talent pool and rapidly expanding digital and physical infrastructure. As global companies reassess supply chains and capital allocation, India offers not only scale as a market, but increasing depth as a long-term investment and operating platform. Among other things, FM Smt. @nsitharaman highlighted the transformation underway in India across sectors such as: ✅ Digital & AI: India’s Digital Public Infrastructure—including Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, ONDC and India Stack—has created platforms at population scale. The next opportunity is to build higher-value businesses in AI, engineering, analytics, product development, semiconductors and electronics, with India’s Global Capability Centres increasingly becoming global innovation hubs. ✅ Financial Services: GIFT IFSC is emerging as an international financial centre connecting global capital with Indian opportunities. With 1,250 registered entities as of June 2026, it offers opportunities across banking, fund management, reinsurance, aircraft and ship leasing, sustainable finance and other cross-border services. FM invited global institutions to explore GIFT City as a gateway to India’s financial ecosystem. ✅ Manufacturing: With global supply chains being reconfigured, India offers a compelling combination of a large domestic market and globally competitive manufacturing capabilities. The focus is moving beyond assembly towards deeper component manufacturing, engineering and advanced technologies, supported by targeted policy measures including PLI. ✅ Infrastructure: India’s infrastructure build-out—from dedicated freight corridors and railway modernisation to electrification and high-speed rail—offers opportunities across engineering, technology, materials, specialised equipment and long-term institutional capital. NIIF provides a commercially driven platform for global investors to participate in this opportunity. ✅ Food Processing: India’s agricultural base, rising incomes and changing consumption patterns are creating opportunities across food processing, automation, packaging, logistics and cold chains, with potential to build businesses serving both Indian and global markets. ✅ Defence & Advanced Technologies: Through initiatives such as Atmanirbhar Bharat and iDEX, India is building domestic capabilities in drones, autonomous systems and other advanced technologies. FM Smt. @nsitharaman emphasised that India’s investment proposition rests not on any single sector, but on the convergence of scale, growth, talent, infrastructure, technology and sustained reform over the past decade. The policy environment is increasingly focused on enabling businesses to invest, manufacture, innovate and expand, She added. While concluding her remarks, the Union Finance Minister invited global partners to co-develop, co-produce and build for global markets, and to not merely consider India as a market to serve, but as a platform from which to build for the world — whether as a manufacturing base, technology and innovation centre, consumer market or destination for long-term infrastructure investment, leveraging India’s engineering talent, manufacturing scale and technology ecosystem. The Roundtable was organised by the Consulate General of India in Chicago @IndiainChicago in association with @USISPForum.