FDI inflows dip to $2.04 billion in Jan

The foreign direct investment in the country declined by 25 per cent to $2.04 billion in January compared to the same month last year, snapping a trend of positive growth in the previous three consecutive months.

"There is no specific reason why the inflows in January dipped," an official told PTI. When asked, he further said India's total FDI by the end of 2009-10, will not be more than last fiscal's.

In January 2009, FDI inflows were $2.73 billion. India attracted foreign direct investment of $2.33 billion in October 2009, about 56 per cent up over the same month last year, while in November FDI surged by 60 per cent to $1.73 billion.

The FDI increased by 13 per cent to $1.54 billion in December from $1.36 billion in the year-ago period.  In 2008-09, India received $27.3 billion FDI, higher than $24.5 billion in 2007-08. During April-January 2009-10, the foreign inflows declined by about 4 per cent to $22.96 billion from $23.86 billion in the corresponding period last year, the official said.

"The major sectors that received FDI include services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications and housing and real estate," the official said.

Crisil's Principal Economist D K Joshi also maintained that "it would be difficult for the country to attract more FDI than what it received during 2008-09."