Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India declined by sharp 40 per cent year-on-year to $2.11 billion in March 2015 compared to $3.53 billion in March 2014. The FDI numbers were at the lowest in the last four months of 2014-15 fiscal. According to the data of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), during the 2014-15 financial year, foreign fund inflows grew 27 per cent, year-on-year, to $30.93 billion as against $24.29 billion in 2013-14.
Sectorwise, services received the maximum FDI of $3.25 billion in 2014-15, followed by telecommunication at $2.89 billion, automobiles worth $ 2.57 billion, computer software and hardware at $2.20 billion and pharmaceuticals $1.52 billion.
Geographically, for the entire financial year, India received the maximum FDI from Mauritius worth $ 9.03 billion, followed by Singapore $6.74 billion, the Netherlands $3.43 billion, Japan $2.08 billion and the US worth $1.82 billion.
In a related development, the Commerce and Industry Ministry has notified the FDI policy relaxations for NRIs, now non-repatriable investments by NRIs, OCIs and PIOs will be treated as domestic investments and will not be subject to foreign direct investment caps.