No FDI in defence, ports, coal in April-December period: Government

NEW DELHI: As many as five sectors including defence, ports and coal have failed to attract any foreign direct investments during the April-December period of the current fiscal, Parliament was informed today.

The other two segments which were not able to attract the foreign inflows are - photographic raw film & paper and coir, according to the data shared by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Barring defence industries, the other four sectors had not received any FDI in 2015-16 either.

Last year, the government relaxed FDI norms in several sectors including defence. India imports 70 per cent of its military hardware from different countries.

As per the current policy, foreign investment beyond 49 per cent has been permitted in the defence sector through the approval route in cases resulting in access to modern technology in the country or for other reasons.

However, the sectors which have attracted maximum FDI in the April-December period of this fiscal include services (USD 7.5 billion), trading (USD 2 billion), metallurgical industries (USD 1.25 billion), electrical equipment (USD 2 billion), telecommunications (USD 5.54 billion) and computer hardware & software (USD 1.81 billion).

During the 9-month period of 2016-17, India attracted a total of USD 35.84 billion in foreign inflows.