Defence industries have attracted a paltry sum of $0.21 million foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first half of the financial year 2019 (H1FY19). According to the data provided by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary, defence industries received $0.08 million, $0.10 million and $0.01 million foreign inflows in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18, respectively.
Data further noted that India imports around 70 percent of its defence hardware mainly from various countries. It also showed that overall, FDI in India fell by 11 percent to $22.66 billion during April-September period of 2018-19. In 2017-18 also, the growth rate of foreign direct investment recorded a five-year low of 3 percent at $44.85 billion.
Besides, the minister said that funds provided to Invest India have increased to Rs 33.19 crore in 2018-19 as against Rs 1.18 crore in 2013-14. Invest India, a non-profit company, acts as a national investment promotion and facilitation agency. The current shareholding pattern of Invest India is 51 percent of industry associations (Ficci, CII and Assocham) and the remaining 49 percent of central and state governments.