IBEF

India records 45 per cent growth in FDI

17 February 2009

New Delhi: India received a total of US$ 23.3 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) between April-December 2008, recording a growth of 45 per cent, said Union Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee while presenting the interim budget in the Lok Sabha on February 16, 2009.

Despite the global meltdown that impacted most emerging market economies, Mukherjee said that India’s GDP growth of 7.1 per cent for the current year would make the country the second-fastest growing economy of the world.

"The fallout of global slowdown on Indian economy was countered with fiscal stimulus packages announced in December 2008 and January 2009 providing tax relief to boost demand and increasing expenditure on public projects," he said.

The Finance Minister further said that in order to maintain the momentum, the government had approved 37 infrastructure projects worth US$ 14.04 billion from August 2008 to January 2009 and gave in-principle or final approval to 54 central sector infrastructure projects with a project cost of US$ 13.58 billion. Further, the government also approved 23 projects amounting to US$ 5.59 billion for viability gap funding in 2008-09.