This study attempted to examine the influence of backward and forward spillovers from foreign affiliates on the TFP of Indian manufacturing firms. Using panel data at firm level for the period 2000–01 to 2012–13 and employing Levinsohn-Petrin (LP) methodology for estimating productivity, the study analysed the influence of foreign presence on the TFP of all domestic companies, low technology companies and high technology companies. The analysis used in the study are fixed effects regression (with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors) and feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) regression. The study confirmed that FDI positively influenced the TFP of the Indian manufacturing companies in the high-tech industries via horizontal and backward FDI spillovers. However, such spillovers were not observed among the low-tech companies. The study concluded that the poor technology intensity of the low-tech companies hindered their possibility to fully absorb the spillover benefits from the foreign affiliates.