Dip in FDI growth

FDI inflow growth takes a hit after robust growth in the first two years of the current regime.

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2013, file photo, just cut stacks of $100 bills make their way down the line at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Western Currency Facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Big U.S. companies have been piling up cash for years, but have spent little of it on buying equipment and raising wages and other things to grow the economy. Republicans say they know how to fix this: Give companies even more money by cutting their taxes. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country hit an all-time high of $43,478.27 million in the 2016-17 fiscal year, growing 8.7 per cent from the previous year, according to statistics from the government portal, www.data.gov.in.

However, the growth was a steep fall from the 29.3 per cent (2015-16) and 27.3 per cent (2014-15) achieved in the first two years of the current dispensation at the Centre.

The top FDI magnets that attracted investment of $1 billion and above in the year gone by were the services sector (includings finance, banking and insurance), which saw the top inflow of $8,684.07 million, followed by telecommunications ($5,563.69 million), computer software & hardware ($3,651.71 million), trading ($2,338.40 million) and electrical equipment ($2,230.69 million).

A cursory look at the numbers for the past three years shows that inflows have been steadily rising in services, metallurgical industries, inormation and broadcasting, power, non-conventional energy and hospitals and diagnostic centres, while there has been a downward trend in the investment in sectors such as mining, automobiles, industrial machinery, fertilizers and construction development.

There has been seesaw growth in sectors such as telecommunications, computer software and hardware, trading, hotels and tourism, drugs and pharmaceuticals and food processing.