New Delhi, May 20: Surpassing previous year’s level, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into the country touched $ 83.57 billion in the financial year 2021-22, according to official data released on Friday.
In 2020-21, the FDI inflow had stood at $ 81.97 billion. “In 2014-2015, FDI inflow in India stood at mere $ 45.15 billion as compared to the highest ever annual FDI inflow of $ 83.57 billion reported during the financial year 2021-22 overtaking last year’s FDI by $ 1.60 billion despite military operation in Ukraine and Covid-19 pandemic,” Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.
“India’s FDI inflows have increased 20-fold since FY03-04, when the inflows were $ 4.3 billion only,” it added. Higher foreign fund flow into the country suggests India is fast emerging as a preferred investment destination in the world. Singapore was the top source of FDI equity inflow into India accounting for 27% share in the total inflows. It was followed by the US (18%) and Mauritius (16%) for the financial year 2021-22. “Computer software & hardware has emerged as the top recipient sector of FDI equity inflow during FY 2021-22 with around 25% share followed by services sector (12%) and automobile industry (12%) respectively,” Commerce Ministry said. Under the sector computer software & hardware, the major recipient states of FDI equity inflow were Karnataka (53%), Delhi (17%) and Maharashtra (17%) during FY 2021-22. “Karnataka is the top recipient state with 38% share of the total FDI equity inflow reported during the FY 2021-22 followed by Maharashtra (26%) and Delhi (14%). Majority of the equity inflow of Karnataka has been reported in the sectors computer software & hardware (35%), automobile industry (20%) and education (12%) during the FY 2021-22,” the statement said. The Commerce Ministry noted that the steps taken by the government during the last eight years have borne fruit and it was evident from the ever-increasing volumes of FDI inflow. In order to ensure higher foreign fund flow into the country, government has substantially liberalised the FDI regime putting most sectors under automatic route. The Ministry stated that India is rapidly emerging as a preferred country for foreign investments in the manufacturing sector. “FDI equity inflow in manufacturing sectors have increased by 76% in FY 2021-22 ($ 21.34 billion) compared to previous FY 2020-21 ($ 12.09 billion),” it said.
