NEW DELHI, Dec. 25 -- The year 2025 has seen a notable surge in Japanese investments into India, led by large-ticket deals across banking, finance and steel. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Yes Bank for $1.58 billion. JFE Steel Corp. bought a 50% stake in Bhushan Power & Steel. Mizuho Securities picked up a majority stake in Avendus, while MUFG acquired 20% of Shriram Finance Ltd for a whopping $4.4 billion.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation puts the December transactions alone at about $7.2 billion. When the data for Japanese foreign direct investment in India for fiscal 2026 is toted up, it's likely to be a multiple of the $2.48 billion for 2024-25.

The milestone marks not just how Japanese businesses a...