India got FDI worth $22 billion during pandemic: Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant
1 min read 08 Aug 2020, 02:48 PM ISTNiti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, 'Our FDI regime is the most liberal in the world. We have continued to attract huge amount of investments'India has jumped up about 79 positions in World Bank’s ease of doing business. It is hoped that this year India will get into top 50 and by next year
PremiumNEW DELHI: Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that despite the economic slowdown brought on by covid-19 outbreak, India has attracted huge investments through FDI. India received investments worth over $ 22 billion during pandemic alone, Kant, said at Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) India@75 virtual event. Kant also lauded India’s FDI regime and called it among the most liberal in the world.
“Our FDI regime is the most liberal in the world. We have continued to attract huge amount of investments. During the pandemic itself, India attracted over 22 billion worth of direct investments into India. Almost 98% of it comes through automatic route," said Kant.
Kant also emphasised on the openness and ease of doing business, adding, “India has jumped up about 79 positions in World Bank’s ease of doing business. Our hope is that this year we will get into top 50 and by next year we will get into top 3."
Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Reliance Industries, alone raised investments over ₹1.5 lakh crore since April, selling 32.94% stakes to several global companies. Leading social media company Facebook, with investment of ₹43,574 crore, was the biggest investor and acquired 9.99% equity stake in Jio Platforms. Search engine company Google has invested ₹33,737 crores in Jio Platforms for 7.7% stake.
According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India’s economy could turn out to be most resilient in South Asia and will continue to attract investments in 2020 even though global FDI is expected to fall. India had jumped to 9th position in the list of countries with top FDI investments in 2019, up from 12th position in 2018.
In July, India’s PM Narendra Modi invited foreign investors to invest in India and assured global companies that the government is capable of carrying out deep structural reforms.
While India has been getting huge investments from global companies, investments form China has been put under scanner. Under the new rules, notified in April, prior government approval is required for all foreign investments from countries which share a land border with India. Around 200 investment proposals from various Chinese investors are still waiting for security clearance from India’s ministry of home Affairs.
