The markets may be on a low for the second day in succession, but India’s attractiveness as an investment destination remains intact. According to trade inflow figures released today, during financial year 2006-07, FDI equity inflows grew by 185 per cent to $15.7 billion as compared to $5.5 billion in 2005-06.

This is also the first time that FDI equity inflows into India have crossed the $10-billion mark. If reinvested earnings and other capital inflows are also included, the total inflows in 2006-07 add up to $19.5 billion compared with $7.7 billion during the same period last year showing a growth of 153 per cent.

The story is the same during the first quarter of 2007-08 as well, with FDI inflows rising 185 per cent to $4.9 billion as against $1.7 billion recorded during the corresponding quarter of 2006-07.

The first six months of the current calendar year (January-June 2007) have witnessed FDI inflows of $11.4 billion as against $3.6 billion received during the same period in 2006, a growth of 218 per cent.

The industrial production figures have also been encouraging. As per Quick Estimates of Industrial Production released by the Central Statistical Organisation, the industrial production registered a double-digit growth of 11 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal as compared to the same period the previous year.

The manufacturing sector, which has around 80 per cent weightage in the Index of Industrial Production, has also shown a double-digit growth of 11.9 per cent during the first quarter of financial year 2007-08 (April to June 2007) against a growth of 11.7 per cent in the previous year. For the financial year 2006-07, manufacturing sector registered a growth of 12.5 per cent, up from 9.1 per cent in 2005-06. This was the highest growth registered by the manufacturing sector since 1995-96.

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