Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into India from April 2000 to September 2024 have soared to the $1,033.40 billion mark (USD one trillion), according to figures compiled by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
Key points
- Since 2014, India has attracted a cumulative FDI inflow of $667.4 billion (2014-24), registering an increase of 119% over the preceding decade (2004-14).
- About 25% of the FDI came through the Mauritius route. It was followed by Singapore (24%), the U.S. (10%), the Netherlands (7%), Japan (6%), the U.K. (5%), the UAE (3%) and Cayman Islands, Germany and Cyprus accounted for 2% each.
- India received $177.18 billion from Mauritius, $167.47 billion from Singapore and $67.8 billion from the U.S. during the period under review, as per the data.
- The key sectors attracting the maximum of these inflows include the services segment, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, trading, construction development, automobile, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
About FDI
- FDI is allowed through the automatic route in most of the sectors, while in areas like telecom, media, pharmaceuticals and insurance, government approval is required for foreign investors.
- Under the government approval route, a foreign investor has to get a prior nod from the Ministry or department concerned, whereas, under the automatic route, an overseas investor is only required to inform the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after the investment is made.
- At present, FDI is prohibited in some sectors. They are lottery, gambling and betting, chit funds, Nidhi company, real estate business, and manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes using tobacco.
- Healthy FDI inflows also help in maintaining the balance of payments and the value of the rupee.
