New Delhi: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India rose by 13 per cent - the sharpest pace in the last four fiscals - to a record of $49.97 billion in 2019-20, according to official data.
The country had received FDI of $44.36 billion during April-March 2018-19.
Foreign investments in the last fiscal grew at the sharpest pace since 2015-16 when the inflows had jumped by 35 per cent. Also, the country logged its all-time high FDI in a fiscal year since 2000-01 when the first such data was released.
Sectors which attracted maximum foreign inflows during 2019-20 include services ($7.85 billion), computer software and hardware ($7.67 billion), telecommunications ($4.44 billion), trading ($4.57 billion), automobile ($2.82 billion), construction ($2 billion), and chemicals ($one billion), the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) data showed.
Singapore with FDI inflows of $14,67 billion emerged as the largest source of foreign fund flows in India for the second financial year in a row. However, it is down from $16.22 billion in 2018-19.
Singapore was followed by Mauritius ($8.24 billion), the Netherlands ($6.5 billion), the US ($4.22 billion), Caymen Islands ($3.7 billion), Japan ($3.22 billion), France ($1.89 billion), UK ($1.42 billion) Cyprus ($879 million), and Germany ($488 million).
FDI is important as the country requires huge investments to overhaul its infrastructure sector to boost growth.
The overseas inflows during the January-March 2020 quarter also increased to $13.2 billion from $10.67 billion in the previous quarter (October-December 2019).
Total FDI into India including re-invested earnings and other capital in 2019-20 stood at $73.45 billion as against $62 billion in the previous fiscal.
