Despite a large pool of funds, India views sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) of many African countries like Nigeria, Libya, Botswana and Algeria with caution, says a survey. The Sovereign Brands Survey 2010 carried by Hill & Knowlton and Penn Schoen Berland found, while sentiment towards SWFs had generally improved, some concerns around SWFs making investments into home countries remained.
“A SWF’s transparency, accountability, good governance and strong management skills were seen as key factors in gaining elites’ approval. Lack of transparency may be the cause of mistrust amongst elites that SWF investment could be used to exert political influence and acquire strategic assets,” the survey said.
The study said India, along with other countries, was opposed to these funds investing in their defence sectors, which received approval from 45 per cent of the respondents. India was seen more comfortable on approving these funds to invest into sectors like technology, construction, health care and finance in these countries. India sees transparency, accountability, good governance and strong management skills — the key factors for SWF to invest in these countries.
The study found the overall SWFs from Norway, Singapore and Hong Kong were the most sought after among the countries surveyed, and African SWFs of Algeria, Botswana and Nigeria were the least. India is most comfortable in approving SWFs of Singapore followed by Hong Kong and Norway. Conducted between January 15 and February 1, it covered elite attitudes in seven countries — the US, the UK, Germany, Egypt, Brazil, India and China — towards 19 SWFs in Norway, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar, China, Russia and Nigeria, among others.