Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in to India rose by an impressive 40.51 per cent in August.
The country received FDI of $3.26 billion in August against $2.32 billion a year ago even as the global economy is yet to show concrete recovery. However, the inflows in August were less than the July level of $3.47 billion, as per the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The inflows in July had also risen by 56 per cent on an annualised basis. The country had attracted $100 billion of FDI in equity since 2000 up to July this year indicating the confidence of foreign investors in the Indian economy.
Factory output grew by 10.4 per cent in August on the back of robust growth in mining and manufacturing sectors, the official data released on Monday said.
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However, the total inflows during April-August contracted by about 3.41 per cent to $14.14 billion over the same period in 2008-09, due to poor accruals in the opening months of the fiscal. In the first five months of 2008-09 the inflows were at $14.64 billion.
Portfolio investment in August also increased by 56.15 per cent to $926 million from $593 million, the bulletin said. In the first five months of this fiscal, portfolio investment increased to $11.23 billion from $4 billion in the same period last year. In 2008-09, the government had set a target of $35 billion of FDI, but was able to receive only $27.3 billion due to the meltdown in the global financial markets.