FDI up 16% to $27.1 bn in Apr-Aug compared to $23.35 bn year ago: Govt data

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India has increased by 16 per cent year-on-year to $27.1 billion during April-August this year, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said on Tuesday.

During April-August last year, India had received FDI worth $23.35 billion.

The ministry said that the total FDI, which includes reinvested earnings, grew by 13 per cent to $35.73 billion.

"It is the highest ever for the first 5 months of a financial year and 13 per cent higher as compared to the first five months of 2019-20 ($31.60 billion)," it added.

It also stated that the total FDI inflow grew by 55 per cent from $231.37 billion in 2008-14 to $358.29 billion in 2014-20.

"FDI is a major driver of economic growth and an important source of non-debt finance for the economic development of India. It has been the endeavour of the government to put in place an enabling and investor friendly FDI policy. The intent all this while has been to make the FDI policy more investor friendly and remove the policy bottlenecks that have been hindering the investment inflows into the country," it said.

It said that the steps taken in this direction during the last six years have borne fruit as is evident from the ever increasing volumes of FDI inflows being received into the country.

"Measures taken by the government on the fronts of FDI policy reforms, investment facilitation and ease of doing business have resulted in increased FDI inflows into the country. The following trends in India's FDI are an endorsement of its status as a preferred investment destination amongst global investors," the ministry said.