Giving some cheers to the government, which has recently relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in as many as 15 sectors including defence, single brand retail, construction development, civil aviation and LLPs to boost foreign inflow in the country, the FDI in the country grew by 13 percent to $16.63 billion during the April-September period of the current fiscal, compared to $ 14.69 billion during April-September 2014.
As per the data released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), during the first half of the financial year, India received maximum FDI of $ 6.69 billion from Singapore followed by Mauritius $3.66 billion, the Netherlands $1.09 billion and Japan $ 815 million.
Sectors wise, the highest foreign investment during the first half of the fiscal was attracted by computer software and hardware of $ 3.05 billion, followed by trading $2.30 billion, services and automobile $ 1.46 billion each and telecommunications $ 659 million.
During financial year 2014-15, foreign fund inflows grew at 27 percent to $30.93 billion as against $ 24.29 billion in 2013-14. Foreign investments are considered crucial for India as they improve the country's balance of payments (BoP) situation and strengthen the rupee. Also, India needs around $1 trillion in the next five years to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.