FDI dips 38% to $1.09 bn in July

After whopping jump for two consecutive months, India's foreign direct investment declined by 38% year-on-year in July to $1.09 billion, an official said.

In July 2010, the country attracted FDI worth $1.78 billion.

In June, the inflows saw an annualised increase of 310% to 11-year monthly record of $5.65 billion. In May as well, the inflows touched $4.66 billion showing an impressive 111% over the same month last year.

For April-July FDI went up by 92% to $14.54 billion from $7.56 billion in the corresponding period last year as inflows were robust in the intial months, the official told PTI.

For the first six months of the 2011 calendar year as well, FDI showed an increase of 57% to $16.83 billion.

Despite uncertainties in the global economy, FDI may touch $35 billion in 2011-12 as against $19.4 billion in the last fiscal on account of major deals like RIL-BP and Posco, sources said.

In the previous fiscal, equity inflows through the FDI route dipped 25% to $19.43 billion from $25.6 billion in 2009-10. In 2008-09, FDI stood at $27.3 billion.

Mauritius, Singapore, the US, UK, Netherlands, Japan, Germany and the UAE are major sources of FDI.

During the period, the sectors that attracted the maximum FDI include services, construction activities, power, computers and hardware, telecommunications and housing and real estate.