Indian Outsourcing - what about this for an interesting shell?

FDI inflows grow 54% in Jan-Sept

Press Trust of India

New Delhi, December 31, 2004|19:04 IST

Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in the country increased by over 54 per cent year on year in January-September, 2004, to touch $3 billion.

As per the revised definition of FDI, which includes reinvested earnings, FDI inflows during the period touched a record $5.4 billion as against $4.3 billion in January-September, 2003, indicating a rise of 26.40 per cent.

FDI approvals in January-September 2004, have also gone up by over 95 per cent compared to the previous year, according to an official statement.

"India has been attracting attention of the global investing community in view of its liberal and investor-friendly regime and competitive strengths in information technology, auto, telecom, electronic and electrical equipments, pharma and financial sectors," the official release said.

In fact, the FDI Confidence Survey conducted by AT Kearney has rated India as the third most attractive investment destination in 2004 behind China and the United States. India was ranked 15th two years ago and sixth last year in the same survey.

The double digit growth in overall industrial production was aided by a robust growth of 11.3 per cent in the manufacturing sector followed by mining and quarrying and power generation, which posted increase of 4.7 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively in October, 2004.

It is after a gap of nearly seven years that overall industrial growth and growth in the manufacturing sector was in double digits in a particular month.

The last time it happened was in November, 1997, when overall industrial growth and manufacturing sector growth were 10.6 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively.