Vital statistics: Taking the real pulse of foreign direct investment

Let’s start with a quiz. Which country is the second biggest direct investor in China? Who are the largest investors in India and Russia? You probably won’t believe it, but the answers are (a) British Virgin Islands, (b) Mauritius and (c) Cyprus. It’s not a sordid tale of hot money but rather a more mundane story of companies investing abroad through a holding company or affiliate located in a third country. They might be driven by the presence of a double taxation or bilateral investment treaty, or it might simply reflect corporate strategy to invest through an existing affiliate rather than by sending cash from the parent company.