India leads regional foreign direct investment as inflows to South Asia rise by 16 per cent in 2014

News:

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to South Asia rose to $41 billion in 2014, primarily the inflows surged by 22 per cent to about $34 billion owing to good performance by India.
• The top five recipients in South Asia of FDI inflows were India, followed by Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh ($ 2 billion each) and Sri Lanka ($ 1 billion).
• Pakistan increased by 31 per cent to $1.7 billion as a result of rising Chinese FDI flows in services.
• The automotive industry is a key part of the Indian economy and India has the potential of becoming a world leader.
• According to data from the Indian government, accumulated FDI inflows to the automotive industry from April 2000 to November 2014 amounted to $11.4 billion.
• The country accounted for the majority of greenfield investment projects announced by global automakers and first-tier parts suppliers in South Asia during 2013–2014, including 12 projects above $100 million.
• India is also the biggest investor in outward FDI in South Asia with $ 9.8 billion marking an increase of 486 per cent over 2013. However, India does not figure in the first top 20 countries for FDI outflows.
• The US had the largest outward flow of FDI ($ 337 billion) followed by Hong Kong-China ($ 142 billion) and China ($ 116 billion).

Source: ET