Make in India pushes FDI up by 46% in 20 months to $62 billion
21 July 2016 11:02 PM GMT
Foreign direct investment between October 2014 and May this year grew 46 per cent to $61.58 billion after the launch of Make in India programme, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. The initiative was launched in September 2014 with an aim to promote India as an important investment destination and a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation.
"During October 2014 to May 2016, FDI equity inflow has increased by 46 per cent i.e from $42.31 billion to $61.58 billion in comparison to previous 20 months (February 2013 to September 2014)," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
To further boost investment environment and bring in foreign capital, the government is taking various measures like opening up FDI in many sectors, carrying out FDI related reforms and improving ease of doing business, she said. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has advised ministries and states to simplify and rationalise the regulatory environment through business process re-engineering and use of information technology, she added. Sectors that attracted maximum FDI include services, trading, automobile and power. Replying to a separate question, the minister said the total number of Industrial Entrepreneurship Memorandum (IEM) applications decreased from 2,365 in 2013 to 1,801 in 2014, which increased to 1,909 in 2015.
To another query, she said the government has approved as many as 259 proposals for setting up of special economic zones relating to IT/ITeS and electronic hardware sector in many parts of the country. During the last four years and the current financial year (up to July 15), the Board of Approval, under the ministry, gave more time to as many as 139 developers of SEZs, including the IT/ITeS sector, to complete their projects.
US firms consider India their next FDI frontier, says beaming Gadkari
US companies consider India their next FDI frontier and are keen to pump in billions of dollars into the country’s infrastructure and transportation sector, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said. “There is overwhelming enthusiasm among American companies and investors to invest in India. Results could be seen soon,” Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said as he concluded his week-long trip to the US that took him to Washington, New York, St Louis, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Acknowledging that India’s infrastructure sector is lagging behind and it has a long way to go to match the international standards, Gadkari said that the modernisation and upgradation of the transport infrastructure has the potential to become driver of the country’s growth. Now that the Modi Government has taken several steps to facilitate smooth and hassle-free foreign direct investment in the infrastructure sector, Gadkari said based on his interaction and meetings in the US he is confident that billions of dollars would soon start flowing into India.
Gadkari said in addition to construction of a road network across the country, the ambitious Sagarmala project along with promoting use of green fuel and clean energy vehicles would create a large number of jobs in the country and provided an unprecedented boost to the Indian economy.
During his week-long trip, Gadkari held a series of productive interactions with investment bankers, fund managers and captains of trade and industry in infrastructure sector. These meetings, he noted, helped in dispelled apprehensions with regard to bottlenecks and red-tape in the Indian government.
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