The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) invests internationally in equities. It owned shares worth about ₹1.09 lakh crore at the end of March 2022 in India alone. Around the world, GIC investments amount to about ₹55 lakh crore. GIC is the eight largest wealth management fund in the world. The money doubled in real terms in the last 20 years. This money is also used by the government for public welfare. Another arm of the Singapore government, Temasek Holdings, has investments worth ₹22 lakh crore. Their investments dwarf some aspects of the Indian economy itself: the Indian government’s budget expenditure for 2022-23 is ₹39.45 lakh crore. The Singapore government’s investments are many times that.
China is doing the same. The Municipal Government of Hefei invested $787 million to acquire a 17% stake in Nio’s core business and shortly after that exited making a profit of 5.5 times its investment. By 2017, Chinese government-owned companies had invested ₹67.5 lakh crore in overseas companies. This is about 27% of India’s GDP.
