Gross FDI inflows rose to 3.2% in FY18, says Suresh Prabhu
NEWDELHI: Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday said gross foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows rose marginally in fiscal year 2017-18, playing down a recent report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) that showed a dip in inflows in 2017.
Prabhu said gross FDI inflows jumped 3.2% in 2017-18 to touch $62 billion, against $60.1 billion a year earlier. Gross FDI inflows include reinvested earnings by foreign investors and other capital that is usually discounted in FDI inflows. FDI equity inflows, according to data released by the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) for 2016-17, stands at $43.5 billion, while for the first nine months (April-december) of 2017-18 it stands at $35.9 billion.
In its World Investment Report 2018, UNCTAD said India’s FDI outflows more than doubled in 2017 to $11.3 billion while FDI inflows fell 9% to $40 billion during the year.
The drop in inflows happened despite India seeing one of its largest FDI deals, with Petrol Complex Pte Ltd (Singapore), owned by Rosneftegaz (Russia), acquiring a 49% stake in Essar Oil Ltd, the second largest private sector Indian oil company, for $13 billion.
“While UNCTAD looks at the calendar year data, we capture the data in the financial year format,” DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek said.
Prabhu said that to facilitate the 8% growth, the government is working on several areas, including a new industrial policy, “which is going to make India ready for the fourth industrial revolution and beyond”.
“We have created a vision for a $5 trillion economy in which $1 trillion will come from manufacturing, $3 trillion from services and $1 trillion from agriculture and allied sectors,” Prabhu said.