New Delhi, Aug. 14 -- A lazy narrative has followed India around the world's financial pages: that the great China-plus-one bus came through Asia, stopped in Hanoi and Bangkok, and left New Delhi standing at the kerb.

The 2026 evidence-from the United Nations, from a survey of over 500 global executives, and from the government's economists-tells a subtler story. India was not waiting for that bus. It was building the bus stop. And the buses that matter most have only now begun to run.

In 2025-26, gross foreign direct investment (FDI) into India rose 17.3% to $94.5 billion, while global flows of FDI rose just 6% in 2025 to about $1.6 trillion, according to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) data. Developing economies as a group managed o...