Maharashtra and the National Capital Region (NCR) have cornered 49 per cent of the total foreign direct investment inflows into the country since April 2000, according to Commerce and Industry Ministry data.

Maharashtra attracted maximum foreign inflows at $70.41 billion, about 30 per cent of total foreign direct investment inflows during April 2000 — November 2014.

The National Capital Region including parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, received $45.77 billion foreign direct investment during the period.

NCR accounted for 19 per cent of the country’s total FDI.

During the period, India received USD 236.46 billion foreign inflows, according to the data.

Significant improvement in the overall infrastructure and pro-active approach of the respective governments in Maharashtra and NCR has helped in attracting significant foreign inflows, an official said.

Tamil Nadu attracted the third highest FDI inflows worth $15.80 billion during the period, followed by Karnataka (USD 14.17 billion), Gujarat (USD 10.18 billion), Andhra Pradesh (USD 9.72 billion) and West Bengal (2.88 billion).

Sectors, which attracted maximum FDI include services, telecommunications, metallurgical industries, power, computer hardware and software, and construction activities.

Country-wise, the highest FDI of USD 83.73 billion came from Mauritius, followed by Singapore (USD 29.19 billion), the UK (USD 21.76 billion), Japan (USD 17.55 billion) and the US (USD 13.28 billion) during April 2000 — November 2014 period.

The government is making sustained efforts to make the FDI policy regime more attractive and investor friendly with a view to attract investments from all major investing nations.

The government had liberalised FDI policy in several important sectors like insurance, defence, construction and medical devices sector.

Foreign investments are considered crucial for India, which needs around USD 1 trillion over five years (2012—17) to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.

Through ‘Make in India’ campaign, the government is intensely engaging with states to improve ease of doing business as it would greatly help in attracting foreign investors. Several states such as Rajasthan are organising summits to woo overseas investors.

A comparative study of practices followed by the states for grant of clearance and ensuring compliances was conducted and six best practices were identified. All the states have been advised to follow those.

An investor has to take maximum number of approvals and clearances from state governments.

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