How Many Multinational Corporations (MNCs) Are There in India?
As of January 2015, Fundoodata.com, a business data aggregator that focuses on the Indian market, listed 4,279 multinational corporations, or MNC’s, in India. The number of multinational corporations in India fluctuates over time, depending on government rules and global investment trends.
Until the 1990’s, foreign investment and multinational corporations were relatively limited in India due to conservative economic policies put in place by the Indian government. The year 1991 saw a liberalization of in-country financial policies, allowing for more interest in India from MNC’s. By 2009 during the heart of the global financial crisis, as laid out by the World Investment Report, MNC’s in India settled at around 3,000+ after spiking before the crisis.
The vast majority of MNC’s in India are foreign affiliates. Indian MNC’s decreased by 50 percent between 2004 and 2009. Foreign affiliates accounted for 2,242 of the multinational corporations in India by 2009, while Indian MNC’s accounted for only 815 of the total.
India is host to many well-known multinational corporations, including PepsiCo, computer and electronics companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Nokia Corporation and Reebok International Limited. The majority of these major MNC’s entered the country soon after the financial policy changes enacted by the Indian government in 1991.