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Foreign direct investment declined by about 16 per cent to $2.45 billion in September, registering a fall for the second month in a row.
The inflows had declined by about 10 per cent to $1.27 billion in August. In September last year, the country had received foreign direct investments (FDI) worth $2.91 billion.
Foreign investments showed a growth of 15 per cent to $14.47 billion during April-September period of this fiscal compared with $12.59 billion in the same period last year, according to the latest data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Healthy inflows in May ($3.60 billion) and July ($3.50 billion) have helped in registering a positive growth during the first half of the current fiscal.
Among the top 10 sectors, telecom received the maximum FDI of $2.46 billion in the first half, followed by services ($1.22 billion), pharmaceuticals ($1.09 billion) and automobile ($1.03 billion).
During the period, India received maximum FDI from Mauritius at $4.19 billion, followed by Singapore ($2.41 billion), the Netherlands ($1.97 billion), the US ($1.19 billion), Japan ($937 million) and UK ($842 million).
In 2013-14, FDI inflows were at $24.29 billion against $22.42 billion in 2012-13.
Decline in foreign investments could put pressure on the country’s balance of payments and may also impact the value of the rupee.
The rupee had on Friday ended at 61.31 against the US dollar.
India requires around $1 trillion in the next five years to overhaul its infrastructure sector, including ports, airports and highways to boost growth.
The government is taking several steps to boost FDI. It has raised the foreign investment limit to 49 per cent in defence manufacturing and relaxed the policy in construction sector. The government has also proposed to increase the FDI cap in insurance to 49 per cent.
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