India's FDI inflows unchanged at $1.1 bn in December

New Delhi: India received $1.1 billion of foreign direct investment in December 2013, unchanged from the level in the same month a year earlier, according to data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. For the April-December period, foreign investment inflows dipped 2 percent to $16.56 billion from $16.94 billion during the corresponding period of the previous year, it said.[caption id=“attachment_1399051” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Investment from abroad. Reuters[/caption] During the first nine months of this financial year, the highest FDI came in services ($1.59 billion), followed by pharmaceuticals ($1.26 billion), construction development ($914 million) and automobiles ($871 million). Mauritius led inflows into India with $3.67 billion of FDI during April-December, followed by Singapore ($3.2 billion), UK ($3.14 billion) and the Netherlands ($1.6 billion). The country needs foreign investment to help regain its growth momentum. India’s economic growth slowed to a decade’s low of 4.5 percent in 2012-13. India is estimated to require about $1 trillion between 2012-13 and 2016-17, the 12th Five-Year Plan period, to fund infrastructure projects. A decline in FDI would hurt the rupee, which depreciated to a record low of 68.85 against the US dollar on 28 August last year. The local currency has rebounded since then and closed at 62.20 per dollar on Tuesday. PTI