- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday (19) said the country’s strong fundamentals and market size will continue to attract market-seeking greenfield investments.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, Sitharaman cited the World Investment Report 2021 to say that foreign direct investment (FDI) into India went up by 25.4 per cent to reach $64 billion last year from $51 billion the year before. This made India the fifth largest recipient in the world in 2020, up from the eighth in 2019.
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Sitharaman said the decline in the announced greenfield projects in India (by 19 per cent in 2020) was significantly lower when compared to the 44 per cent fall in the developing economies.
India economy recovering due to fiscal relief, rapid vaccination, says finance ministry
“As has been witnessed in overall FDI inflows, India’s strong fundamentals and market size will continue to attract market-seeking greenfield investments,” the finance minister said.
With regard to India’s contraction in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 7.3 per cent in 2020-21, Sitharaman said this reflects the unparalleled effect of the ‘once in a century’ Covid-19 pandemic and the containment measures that were taken to control it.
According to her, the fundamentals of the economy remained strong as gradual scaling back of lockdowns, along with the astute support of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission’ placed the economy firmly on the path of recovery from the second half of 2020-21. She cited the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects June 2021 to say that global growth for the current fiscal has been revised upward to 5.6 per cent, largely due to sharp rebound in the major economies driven by continued vaccination and substantial fiscal support.
Sitharaman said the Indian government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of the vaccination throughout the country, adding the average daily vaccination rate has doubled to more than 41 lakh (4.1 million) doses in June compared to 19.3 lakh (1.93 million) in May, following the implementation of the revised national Covid vaccination policy since June 21.
The government also announced in June a stimulus package of Rs 628,993 crore ($85 billion), Sitharaman said in another reply. The package aims to boost diverse sectors of the economy affected by the pandemic, she said, adding the government has announced a total of 17 measures in three broad categories — economic relief from the pandemic, strengthening public health and impetus for growth and employment.
