FDI up 25% to $17.35 bn in April-October: Nirmala

Inflows of foreign direct investment into India rose by about 25 per cent to $17.35 billion in the April-October period of the current fiscal, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.

Improvement in the macroeconomic situation and investor sentiment on account of a series of steps taken by the new government helped attract higher FDI, she said.

In April-October 2013, the country had received $13.82 billion foreign inflows. The minister said however that there are challenges to boost manufacturing sector.

"Still there are number of challenges to make India a global manufacturing hub. (Those challenges) need to be identified and action plan has to be (formulated) to overcome this," Sitharaman said here. She was speaking at the inaugural session of the day-long workshop on 'Make in India'.

"We recognise that manufacturing requires infrastructure ...'Make in India' aims to boost entrepreneurship in India," she added.

She also said that the government has taken several steps to cut red tape and rationalise existing rules and increased use of IT to make governance "effective and user friendly".

"A strong manufacturing sector has the potential to take our economic growth to a higher trajectory, provide jobs to our youth and fulfil their aspirations," Sitharaman said.

Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth said that e-biz portal has been launched to provide single window platform for clearances and approvals for the industry.