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Amidst the gloom due to COVID-19 and the second wave which has battered Indian economy, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is upbeat about FD inflow into the country. In a written reply to Lok Sabha she said, that India’s strong fundamentals and market size will continue to attract market-seeking greenfield investments.
Quoting the World Investment Report 2021, the Finance Minister said FDI inflows into India rose by 25.4 per cent to reach USD 64 billion in 2020, from USD 51 billion in 2019, becoming fifth largest recipient in the world in 2020, up from eighth position it held in the previous year.
However, the announced greenfield projects in India contracted by 19 per cent in 2020, she said adding that this decline is significantly lower than the 44 per cent decline in developing economies.
“As has been witnessed in overall FDI inflows, India’s strong fundamentals and market size will continue to attract market-seeking greenfield investments,” she said.
With regard to India’s contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 7.3 per cent in 2020-21, she said this reflects the unparalleled effect of the “once in a century” COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures that were taken to control the pandemic.
