Foreign direct investment, FDI, into the country grew by 37 per cent to 10(point)4 billion US Dollar during the first quarter of the current fiscal. According to the figures of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, DIPP, India had received around eight billion FDI US Dollar during the same period last year.
The main sectors which attracted the highest foreign inflows include services, telecom, trading, computer hardware and software and automobile.Bulk of the FDI came in from Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Japan.
The
government has announced several steps to attract foreign inflows. The measures include liberalisation of FDI policy and improvement in business climate.Foreign investments are considered crucial for India, which needs around one trillion US Dollar for overhauling its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.
A strong inflow of foreign investments will help improve the country’s balance of payments situation and strengthen the rupee value against other global currencies, especially the US dollar.