56 pc rise in FDI in July, India regains investors faith

NEW DELHI: India received USD 3.51 billion foreign direct investment in July, showing an impressive year- on-year increase of 56 per cent despite the persisting global financial crisis.

The FDI in July stood at USD 3.51 billion against USD 2.25 billion in the same month last fiscal. In June, the foreign inflows were at USD 2.58 billion.

"Despite current economic situation, India witnessed 56 per cent increase in the FDI inflows," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said after releasing the figures.

However, the total inflows during the April-July period contracted by about 15 per cent to USD 10.53 billion over the same period in 2008-09, due to poor accruals in the opening months of the fiscal. In the first four months of 2008-09 it was at USD 12.32 billion.

The investor confidence as reflected in the FDI data is contrary to the World Bank's 'Doing Business Index' report ranking India at 133rd position a notch below last year. It had said business environment in the country had become tougher this year.

In 2008-09, the government had set a target of USD 35 billion, but was able to receive only USD 27.3 billion due to the meltdown in the global financial markets.

Mauritius, the US, Japan and Singapore are the major investing countries during the first four months of this fiscal, Sharma said.