According to reports, India has overtaken China and the US, emerging on top of the foreign direct investment league table. A ranking of the top destinations for greenfield investment in the first half of 2015 data shows India at number one, having attracted around $3 billion more than China and $ 4 billion more than the US, the report added.
“With mid-year data on greenfield FDI now in, 2015 looks to be a milestone year for India following its impressive performance in 2014,” the article quoted fDi Markets. The news comes in favour of the Narendra Modi government which has taken several steps to attract foreign investment and has managed to attract investors since it came to power last year. Several investors have started to take interest in the growth of the country and Modi's most recent visit to the Silicon Valley has surely triggered enormous interest from software and technology czars. Experts say India is expected to benefit from the slowdown in China and the overall sluggishness in global commodity prices, including crude oil is expected to provide a cushion to the growth fortunes of Asia's third largest economy. The government feels confident of achieving close to 8 % growth in the current fiscal year.
The article said that both China and US have been vying for FDI supremacy for the past several years, fighting each other nearly to a draw last year. India ranked fifth in 2014 for capital investment, after China, the US, the UK and Mexico. In a year when many major FDI destinations showed decline, India boasted one of 2014's best growth rates, increasing its number of projects by 47 %.
“India is tracking well ahead of where it was at this time last year: it has more than doubled its mid-year investment levels, attracting $30 billion by the end of June 2015 compared with $12 billion in the first half of last year,” the report said. “Research from fDi Markets found 97 of 154 countries typically classed as emerging markets experiencing declines in capital expenditure on greenfield investment projects in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year.”
