India attracts billions of FDI during COVID-19 pandemic

India’s FDI regime being one of the most liberal in the world has according to the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) attracted over 22 billion USD worth of foreign direct investment during the COVID-19 pandemic. 90% of the investment attracted has come through the automatic route where government interference wasn’t required.

As far as doing business in India is concerned, India has jumped up about 79 positions in the World Bank’s ease of doing business and is hoping to get into top 50 in 2020.

Earlier this year the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) had cautioned that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, lockdown measures, supply chain disruptions, and economic slowdown would obstruct India’s ability to attract foreign investments in 2020. The steep fall in India’s foreign investment inflows was expected to occur despite the country having seen FDI inflows of $51 billion in 2019, which was a rise of 20 per cent on-year.

Among the nations receiving maximum FDI inflows, India improved its position from 12th in 2018 to 9th in 2019, according to the latest World Investment Report 2020 by UNCTAD.

On the brighter side, UNCTAD said India’s economy could prove the most resilient in the South Asia region as FDI inflows into India have been on a long-term growth trend. Also, the large Indian market and the growth in the Indian economy despite the global economy facing a recession may keep up the investors’ spirit.

Financialexpress.com | Niti.gov.in