India is the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment, according to fDi Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times. The country attracted FDI worth $63 billion in 2015, emerging as the highest-ranked country by capital investment.
“India replaced China as the top destination for FDI by capital investment following a year of high-value project announcements specifically across the coal, oil and natural gas and renewable energy sectors,” the report said.
According to the report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign and the resultant boost in FDI resulted in a sharp increase in FDI job creation from 1.16 lakh new jobs in 2013 to 2.25 lakh in 2015 – the highest number in the world.
“India is emerging as a key destination for renewable energy projects, helped by a wider government policy of incentives, infrastructure and programmes designed to attract investment,” the report said.
Foxconn and SunEdison were among the major companies that agreed to invest in projects valued at $5 billion and $4 billion, respectively, in India in 2015.
“In 2015, India was for the first time the leading country in the world for FDI, overtaking the US (which had $59.6 billion of greenfield FDI) and China ($56.6 billion),” the report noted.
In a tweet, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said: “India emerges on top in attracting FDI.”
Five Indian states were among the top 10 destination states for FDI in 2015. Gujrat emerged as top state for FDI with $12.4 billion in investment, while Maharashtra attracted FDI worth $8.3 billion in 2015.
Domestic market growth potential and proximity to markets are the two main reasons for rising FDI, according to fDi Markets.
“Success breeds success and to attract high volumes of FDI, locations need to create the conditions for strong economic growth and development to take place,” the report said.
China, on the other hand, suffered a 23 per cent decline in capital investment and a 16 per cent drop in FDI projects.
Source: NDTV
India overtakes China as top FDI Destination: Report
