The government’s steps to boost foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country is bearing fruits, as per the data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) the FDI in India almost doubled to $2.16 billion in December 2014, compared to $1.10 billion in the same month of 2013. During the April-December period of the current fiscal, FDI rose by 27 per cent to $21.04 billion as against $16.56 billion in the same period last fiscal.
Amongst the top 10 sectors, telecom received the maximum FDI of $2.67 billion in the nine-month period, followed by services $2.29 billion, automobiles $1.58 billion, pharmaceuticals $1.21 billion and computer software and hardware $971 million.
Country wise, during the period India received the maximum FDI from Mauritius at $5.89 billion, followed by Singapore $4.31 billion, the Netherlands $2.57 billion, the US $1.48 billion and Japan ($1.42 billion).
Though, FDI has been increasing and in 2013-14, FDI stood at $ 24.29 billion as against $ 22.42 billion in 2012-13, still India is estimated to require around $ 1 trillion over five years to overhaul its infrastructure sector, including ports, airports and highways to boost growth. Healthy inflow of foreign investments into the country help in balancing the country's balance of payments and stabilise the value of rupee.