No foreign direct investments in defence, ports, coal in Apr-Dec: Govt

As many as six sectors, including defence industries, ports and coal production, have failed to attract any foreign direct investments during the April-December period of the current fiscal, Parliament was informed on Monday.

The other three sectors, which were not able to attract foreign inflows are - photographic raw film & paper, dye-stuffs and coir, according to the data shared by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Barring defence industries and dye-stuffs, the other four segments had not received any FDI in 2015-16 either.

The government has relaxed FDI norms in several sectors, including defence, single brand retail and civil aviation, to attract foreign direct investment in the country.

India imports 70 per cent of its military hardware from different countries.

During April-December 2017-18, FDI into the country grew by a meagre 0.27 per cent to $35.94 billion.