In early May, the US Embassy in Delhi announced that Indian companies have committed investments worth $20.5 billion in the US during the 2026 SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland. This marked the highest investment commitment by Indian companies at such a platform, a US federal government programme founded in 2007 to promote foreign direct investment into that country. Going by the figures cited by US officials, the pledged investment amount exceeds the $16.4 billion overall investments made by Indian firms in the US so far. The commitment is significant even by the estimates of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which places cumulative Indian investments in the US at over $40 billion.

The announcement comes at a time when the US and India, in a joint statement in February, said that New Delhi intends to purchase $500 billion of American energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next five years. A free trade agreement (FTA) between both the countries is being negotiated at the moment.

There is little doubt that Indian companies are serious about their US investment plans. The most recent announcement came from the renewable sector when Inox Clean Energy, the renewable energy platform of the INOXGFL Group, said it has acquired 3 GW module and 3 GW cell manufacturing capacity from Boviet Solar in the US at an enterprise value of $750 million. However, in terms of individual firms, Indian pharmaceutical companies are taking the lead in US investments.

Mumbai-based Sun Pharmaceutical Industries had announced its planned $11.75-billion acquisition of New Jersey-based Organon & Co. just a few days before the Maryland summit. There is no investment plan by any single entity that is as big as that, but several others are planning, or already executing investments in the US. For instance, Ahmedabad-based Zydus Lifesciences is acquiring US-based pharma firm Assertio Holdings for $166.4 million. Jubilant Pharmova, part of Noida-based Jubilant Group, is currently executing a plan to invest $300 million through its US subsidiary Jubilant HollisterStier LLC (JHS) to double the company’s sterile injectable production capacity in that country by FY28. Mumbai-based pharma firms Cipla, Lupin, and Piramal have all lined up projects in the US. Cipla Ltd will invest up to $100 million in InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cipla (EU) Limited, to meet its capital expenditure, working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes. Piramal Pharma had announced a $90-million investment plan in the US last year, a project that is expected to be completed by late 2027. In the case of Lupin, a new state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Coral Springs, with a projected cumulative investment of $250 million, announced last year, is set to be completed by 2030. Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Pharma’s US acquisition of Lannett Company LLC for $250 million is expected to be completed now.

According to the US Embassy, more than $19.1 billion in planned investments in the US announced at the SelectUSA Investment Summit was in the pharmaceutical sector, in manufacturing, research and development, and new facilities.  Additional investments span across steel, connectivity, and energy supply chains.

The embassy statement said JSW Steel has plans to invest $255 million in modernisation projects at its facilities in Ohio and Texas. Formally announced investment plans at SelectUSA 2026 include Ahmedabad-based Abhyuday Group’s $900 million investment across five US sites, Jindal Pipe and Jindal Tubular USA’s $87-million investment to expand in Texas and Mississippi, Sterlite Technologies Ltd. (Mumbai)’s investment plans worth $100 million in AI and telecom infrastructure. Techdome Solutions (Indore) will invest $7.5 million, creating 100 jobs. Indian Institute of Technology Madras Global Research Foundation will invest $4.5 million to establish a US research and collaboration hub in California, with plans for an additional East Coast location.

As the India-US FTA talks progress, rising investments by Indian companies in the US could strengthen India’s hand at the negotiating table.