FDI: Bringing all stakeholders on board

To take the economy to $5 trillion, India needs a clear and consistent position on foreign direct investment

Gross inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) rose to $64.37 billion in 2018-19 after having stagnated at around $60 billion for the previous two years (Table 1). It is quite remarkable, that despite domestic economic ups and downs, foreign investors have retained their faith in the Indian story, as demonstrated by gross FDI inflows nearly trebling since 2006-07, when these were a mere $22.8 billion. However, it is important to focus our attention on net FDI inflows as these actually contribute towards balancing our external account and spurring economic activity. The good news is that net FDI inflows in 2018-19