FDI inflows touch all-time high, cross $10 bn in first half this yr

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 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.

“Most of the sectors that have done well are employment intensive ones which indicates that this is not a jobless growth. All indices of growth must have a measurement of employment generation,” commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said.

“Our FDI policy right now is probably one of the most liberal in the world. While retail has bagged the maximum attention, we are looking at ironing out some anomalies and issues in areas other than retail as well,” Nath said. “ICRIER is currently conducting a study on the impact of FDI in retail and we are waiting for it. There will be no review of the existing policy, only streamlining.”