Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” campaign has helped India become the top destination for foreign investment in the Asia-Pacific Region in 2015 overtaking China, according to a recent report published by fDi Intelligence, a part of the Financial Times group, which tracks investments globally.
According to a report titled “The fDi Report 2016” published by fDi Intelligence, “India replaced China as the leading recipient of capital investment in Asia-Pacific with announced FDI of $63 billion, as well as an 8% increase in project numbers to 697.” The report cited India as having 20% market share, while China was ranked second claiming 18% market share with $56.6 billion foreign capital investment. The report said that while the number of FDI projects in Asia-Pacific decreased by 7%, the total capital investment increased by 29% to $320.5 billion. China led the list of number of FDI projects with 789, albeit with a 16% decrease from the previous year. However, India, which ranked second, saw an 8% increase in the number of FDI projects to 697. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy, a favourable investment environment and the Make in India campaign has gone a long way in increasing foreign investments in the country. It’s no wonder that India is seeing a rise in the number of FDI projects. These investments will increase in the years to come and give a fillip to the country’s development,” Swapan Pradhan, a Delhi-based lawyer and an expert on taxation and investment, said. According to Kavan Bhandary, MD Wavteq India, job creation due to FDI in India went up from 116,000 in 2013 to 225,000 in 2015, the highest in the world.