FDI down 37% year-on-year at $2.34 bn in April

In what can be seen as an indication that foreign investors were still not convinced that India is an attractive destination for investments or that the impact of the global economic slowdown is far from over, the FDI figure for the first month of the current fiscal stood at $2.34 billion, down as much as 37.43 per cent compared with the same month the previous year.

However, the figure for April 2009 represented a rise of 19.3 per cent over the previous month.     

"In April 2009, foreign inflows were $2.34 billion, about 19 per cent higher than March," an official told PTI.     

The inflows in April and March last fiscal were $3.74 billion and $1.96 billion, respectively.     

Thanks to robust trends in the first six months of the last fiscal, total FDI in 2008-09 was $27.30 billion, against $24.5 billion in 2007-08.     

Rating agency CRISIL's Principal Economist D K Joshi said the current year would be difficult in the wake of the global economic downturn.     

"Given the poor global economic scenario, the figures are not too discouraging but the year 2009-10 will be more challenging," Joshi said.     

India had scaled down the FDI target by $5 billion from $35 billion last fiscal. Cumulative FDI from April 2000 to March 2009 stands close to about $90 billion.