Net foreign direct investment (FDI) in India dropped to $1.4 billion during the first 10 months of the 2024-25 financial year (April 2024-January 2025), a significant decrease from $11.5 billion during the same period last year. This decline was primarily due to increased repatriation and outward FDI from India.
However, gross FDI remained strong, showing a 12.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth, reaching $67.7 billion during April 2024-January 2025, compared to $60.2 billion in the same period of the previous year, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Repatriation and disinvestment by foreign investors in India rose to $46.1 billion in the 2024-25 period, up from $36.9 billion during April 2023-January 2024, the RBI data revealed.
Overseas investments by Indian companies, or outward FDI, surged significantly to $20.2 billion in the period from April 2024 to January 2025, up from $11.8 billion in the same period the previous year.
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State Of Economy Report
The Reserve Bank of India’s ‘State of the Economy’ report, published in the March 2025 bulletin, highlighted that the manufacturing sector received the largest share of equity inflows, followed by financial services, electricity and energy, and communication services.
More than 75 per cent of these investments came from Singapore, Mauritius, the US, the UAE, and the Netherlands during this period.
In terms of globally announced greenfield FDI projects, India ranked second, behind the US, in 2024, up from its previous sixth position in 2020. India contributed about 6 per cent (over $100 billion) of the total global FDI projects announced, which amounted to $1.8 trillion. Sectors like renewables, communications, semiconductors, and metals remained the most sought-after areas for global FDI in 2024.
In India, metals, renewable energy, and semiconductors emerged as the leading sectors, collectively representing approximately 60 per cent of the total announced FDI projects in 2024, according to the report.
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