FDI rose 16% to $1.44 billion in June

Foreign direct investment into India increased by about 16 per cent year-on-year to $1.44 billion in June, which is the lowest figure during the calender year.

In June 2012, the country had received FDI worth $1.24 billion.

During April-June period of the fiscal, foreign direct investment into the country grew by 22 per cent to $5.39 billion from $4.42 billion during the same period of previous year, a senior official in Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion told PTI.

The sectors that received large FDI inflows during the first quarter of the fiscal include pharmaceuticals ($1 billion), services ($945 million), automobile industry ($ 515 million) and computer software and hardware ($171 million), the official said.

The maximum FDI during the quarter came from Singapore ($1.85 billion), followed by Mauritius ($1.09 billion), Germany ($510 million), the Netherlands ($408 million) and the US ($315 million).

The official added that recent steps taken by the government are helping in improving the investment environment in the country.

The government has liberalised FDI policy in as many as 12 sectors which include telecom, tea and petroleum and natural gas.

FDI inflows in 2012-13 aggregated $22.42 billion, a decline from $36.50 billion in 2011-12.

India is estimated to require about $1 trillion between 2012-13 to 2016-17 to fund infrastructure such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.

An increase in FDI will help support the rupee, which depreciated to a record low of 64.43 against the US dollar intra-day before recovering marginally on Wednesday.