Kerala Investors’ Summit 2025: A New Era of Growth, Cooperation, and Global Engagement

1 March 2025 Tridivesh Singh Maini

Kerala Investor’s Summit underscored the fact that the South Indian state is serious about drawing FDI. It showcased the spirit of cooperative federalism, and finally, Kerala – like many other Indian states – has begun to focus on important areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI).

February 2025 saw multiple Indian state governments hosting Investor’s Summits: West Bengal (February 5-6, 2025), Assam (February 25-26, 2025), and Madhya Pradesh (February 24-25, 2025). Some themes were common to all these summits. First, there was a focus on aerospace and defence, artificial intelligence (AI), and several new areas at these summits. Second, all these summits saw participation not just of top industrial houses from India but also of high-level delegations from other countries.

Kerala Investor’s Summit

The Invest Kerala Global Summit (IKGS), held in Kochi on February 21-22, 2025, was important for several reasons. In recent years, though the Southern Indian state has done extremely well on the Human Development Indicators (HDI) front, it has been seeking to shed its image of not being investor-friendly. While several south Indian states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, which were carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, have emerged as important growth engines of India’s growth and have been front runners in drawing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Kerala has not met it’s potential as far as attracting FDI is concerned.

Kerala: The need to reduce dependence upon remittances

While remittances from the diaspora in the Gulf have been important contributors to the state’s economic progress, there is a growing feeling that the excessive dependence upon remittances from the Gulf needs to be reduced. In the short run, though, any drop in remittances from the Gulf is unlikely, but in the future, if the remittances drop and the state is not able to remove its dependence, then the state could face serious challenges. One more factor to bear in mind is that, unlike earlier generations, the preferred destination for migration for the youth of Kerala has shifted from the Gulf to Western nations. The diaspora of the West may not maintain such close links with Kerala as the Gulf has maintained.
The focus of the state to draw investment was evident from the IKGS. There were over 3000 delegates and high-level delegations from several countries. Kerala received investment commitments from 374 countries to the tune of Rs. 1.53 trillion.
While speaking at the Summit, Kerala Chief Minister Pinari Vijayan said: “The government understands that it has a great role to play as a facilitator and a catalyst. We have ensured that no investor coming to Kerala will have to face the cobweb of procedural delays and meet the barriers of red tape.”
Kerala’s Industry Minister, while commenting on the state’s vision, said: “The state is trying to become the hub of India’s Industrial Revolution 4.0 by focusing on innovative industrial sectors identified by the Kerala Industrial Policy.”

Political bi-partisanship and cooperative Federalism

One of the important highlights of the IKGS Summit was political bipartisanship and cooperative federalism. A strong reiteration of Cooperative Federalism was the presence of two Union Ministers- Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, participated in the summit via video conference. Piyush Goyal shared the stage with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan (INC), and Union Minister and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary.
Goyal highlighted the potential of the state and reiterated the point of Cooperative Federalism, saying: “We are working with the spirit of cooperative federalism. There is also competition. But that is the sheer recipe for further development of the state.”
Goyal also said that the state has much to offer investors, not just by way of its economic potential but also its rich culture. In an opinion piece in the New Indian Express, Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor highlighted the potential of the Southern Indian state and lauded its strides in the start-up sector.

Focus Countries and Areas

Ties between Kerala and Gulf nations have traditionally been strong, and in recent years, economic linkages have received a significant boost. The UAE had a prominent presence at the event, with Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE Minister of Economy, leading a 22-member delegation. Bahrain was another gulf country which had a strong presence at the event.
Other countries that participated in IKGS were Vietnam, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, and France. There were focused sessions that exploring potential investments from Germany, Vietnam, UAE, and Malaysia, amongst others. The UAE-based Sharaf group made commitments of investments worth Rs. 5,000 Crore. One of the important announcements made was that the next edition of UAE’s Investopedia Summit would be held in Kerala in July 2026. Bahrain’s minister of commerce and industry, Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, said that his country was looking to strengthen ties with Kerala in areas like tourism, food security, and hospitality.

Some of the key areas where potential cooperation was discussed were higher education and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Cisco Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China president Dave West announced that the company would be partnering with institutions in the state to provide training in Artificial Intelligence.

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In conclusion, the Kerala Investor’s Summit was important for several reasons. First, it underscored the fact that the South Indian state is serious about drawing FDI. Second, the spirit of cooperative federalism was evident, and finally, Kerala – like many other Indian states – has begun to focus on important areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI). Third, while Kerala has close linkages with the Gulf via the diaspora, it is trying to strengthen economic linkages with other countries as well.

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