FDI flows improving; more investments in non-IT sectors: Sitharaman Nirmala

Bengaluru: Stating that the FDI inflows inthe country are improving day by day, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 16,  said more and more investments are coming from sectors other than IT and ITeS.

"Highest investments are coming from services other than IT and IT-enabled services which may include a lot of things - it could be courier services; it could be getting into services that are partly related to logistics and retailing and so on," she said in her address at the IIM Bangalore. Construction and infrastructure is the second highest sector which are receiving FDIs, the Minister said. "We also have retailing, IT and IT-enabled services.

Chemical industry also is receiving - other than fertilisers, they are also receiving a lot," she said. Sitharaman said that India received FDI worth nearly USD 29.6 billion, the highest amount received by any country in last fiscal. "Among the countries, which do monitoring on FDIs flowing into theirs, we seem to have received the highest amount in the last fiscal," she added.

"Something in the range of USD 29.6 billion (India has received FDIs) in the last fiscal. In terms of percentage, it is 38 per cent rise in inflows compared to 16 per cent dip all over the world," Sitharaman added. The Minister said India has received the highest FDIs compared to other countries only showed that the Indian economy is instilling confidence in the minds of investors.

"It is only improving day by day. Largely individual, trust and other corporate entities are coming in," she said. The US business houses in next five years will be investing anywhere between USD 40 to 45 billion in India in various sectors of activity.

"The US-India Business Council has assessed that in the next five years US Business Houses will be interested in investing anywhere between 40 to 45 billion US dollars in India in various sectors of activity," she said. However, Foreign Institutional Investments (FIIs) are progressively coming down, Sitharaman said.

"FIIs are dropping. There is no increase in FIIs. They actually are progressively coming down," she said. Sitharaman said many investors from countries like China, the US, France, Germany and Japan are shifting to India due to conducive investment and manufacturing environment.

"We are actually saying that trust is being placed on the Indian investment and manufacturing environment... countries are now clearly shifting manufacturing out of let us say China where cost of production is going up, inventories are really bothering companies, and they don't see a possibility of better production or better ecosystem for continuing," she said.

On investments pouring into India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to different countries, Sitharaman said the US is keen on investing USD 5 billion for different projects.

"The US has come up with, not a very big public spending, it is about USD 5 billion, but specifically tailor made for different projects," she said.

These projects will help in greater interaction between American and Indian businesses, she added. Japan has committed to invest USD 35 billion, both through public and private investments, which will pour in the the next five years, Sitharaman said.

"Japan as we know has taken a lot of interest in participating in corridor projects - Bengaluru-Mumbai corridor project."

Japan is also showing a lot of interest in setting up industrial hubs or being part of industrial corridor, the minister said. Other than that, Japan is interested in participating in building smart cities and is committed to build Amravati as the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, Sitharaman said.

"They are also taking interest in bullet train," she added. China has plans to invest USD 20 billion and shown interest in creating two industrial hubs in Maharashtra and Gujarat, Sitharaman said.

"China offered USD 20 billion investments when Prime Minister visited China. China has shown interest to create two new industrial hubs - one in Maharashtra and another in Gujarat," she said. In Maharashtra, China plans to bring their truck manufacturers who have collaboration with Mercedes Benz and make that brand of trucks, Sitharaman said.