FDI in India plunges 48 pc in Jan; Apr-Jan dip by 25 pc

New Delhi, Mar 9: With economic recovery in the rich countries, especially European nations, remaining fragile, FDI inflows to India plunged by 48 per cent to USD 1.04 billion in Jan over the same period last year.

Countries including Mauritius, Singapore, US, UK, Netherlands, Japan, Germany and UAE are the major investors in India. In Jan 2010, India attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth USD 2.04 billion.

During the ten month period (April-January 2010-11) of the current fiscal, FDI declined 25 per cent to USD 17 billion over the year ago period, a source told PTI. India had received USD 22.9 billion FDI during Apr-Jan 2009-10.

"The numbers are reflecting that, we will not be able to touch the FDI figure of the previous fiscal," the source said adding "it is a matter of great concern".

In 2009-10, the country's foreign direct investment had declined to USD 25.88 billion from USD 27.33 billion in the previous financial year.

"The numbers are bad. Going by the trend, it appears that India will receive less FDI in 2010-11 compared to the previous fiscal. The global economic recovery is fragile," CRISIL Principal Economist D K Joshi said.

After falling consecutively in October and November 2010, in Dec last year, foreign direct investment in India increased by about 31 per cent to USD 2 billion over the same period last year.

FDI inflows in October 2010 dipped by about 40 per cent to USD 1.4 billion over the year ago period. In November too, it fell by 7 per cent to USD 1.6 billion.

In view of declining foreign investment inflows, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering setting-up a panel to find out the reasons for FDI slowdown and suggest ways to encourage it.

The sectors that attracted FDI include services (financial and non-financial), telecommunications, housing and real estate, construction activities and power.

As far as FII inflows are concerned, they too dipped in Jan, declining to USD 1.19 billion from USD 1.84 billion during the same period of Jan, 2010.

PTI