FDI up 74% in Feb to $2.21 bn

Services, pharma, telecom, construction, power, and metallurgical industries among biggest beneficiaries

India received $2.21 billion in foreign direct investment in February, showing an annual growth of 74%, taking cumulative inflows to $28.40 billion for the April-February period of the last fiscal.

In February 2011, the country received FDI worth $1.27 billion.

Experts say there is a much greater potential for attracting higher foreign investment provided economic reforms are pushed.

"There is an urgent need for strong reforms like 100% FDI in sectors like multi-brand retail and insurance. There is a need to boost investor confidence. $2 billion in month is not a big number," Ficci Secretary General Rajiv Kumar said.

The sectors which received large foreign FDI inflows during the 11-month period of 2011-12 are: services ($5.05 billion), pharmaceuticals ($3.21 billion), telecom ($1.99 billion), construction ($2.52 billion), power ($1.61 billion) and metallurgical industries ($1.76 billion), an official said.

Mauritius remained the top source of inflows ($9.42 billion), thanks to the double taxation avoidance treaty.

Other sources were Singapore ($5.07 billion), Japan ($2.86 billion), UK ($2.75 billion), Germany ($1.54 billion), Netherlands ($1.21 billion) and Cyprus ($1.42 billion).

FDI inflows into India totalled $19.42 billion in 2010-11, down from $25.83 billion in 2009-10.

Recently, the government has streamlined the procedure to boost foreign investment into the country and also allowed FIIs to invest up to 23% in commodity exchanges without seeking its prior approval.