India is closing gap with China - The Telegraph
The amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India for the first quarter of this financial year exceeded the total received in 2005/06, the country's Reserve Bank said.
In further evidence of the expansion of the world's fastest-growing economy, data released by India's central bank showed that $10bn (£5.4bn) of FDI was received in the first quarter of the fiscal year, which ran from April to June.
The news came just a few days after Tesco became the latest multinational company to announce it was investing in the Indian market.
The Q1 figure smashed the total FDI in 2005/06, which was just short of $9bn, the RBI said in its latest financial report. If the first-quarter trend continues, then India is likely to meet, and possibly break, its FDI target of $35bn for 2009.
Yesterday's announcement was further evidence that India is catching up with China as the developing nation most attractive to Western investors.
China averages $50bn FDI every year, but if India continues to develop at the current rate there could be parity within a decade.
Of the $10bn made in Q1, slightly more than $2.2bn was a result of the purchasing of shares by foreign companies in Indian businesses.
To highlight the speed with which India's economy is growing, a Mumbai newspaper noted that the total accrued through FDI was less than $10bn annually in 2005/06 before exploding to $22bn the following year and $32bn in 2007/08.
Tesco announced last week that it is to supply thousands of Indian shopkeepers and supermarkets with its products in a multi-million-pound deal with Indian conglomerate Tata.
In further evidence of the expansion of the world's fastest-growing economy, data released by India's central bank showed that $10bn (£5.4bn) of FDI was received in the first quarter of the fiscal year, which ran from April to June.
The news came just a few days after Tesco became the latest multinational company to announce it was investing in the Indian market.
The Q1 figure smashed the total FDI in 2005/06, which was just short of $9bn, the RBI said in its latest financial report. If the first-quarter trend continues, then India is likely to meet, and possibly break, its FDI target of $35bn for 2009.
Yesterday's announcement was further evidence that India is catching up with China as the developing nation most attractive to Western investors.
China averages $50bn FDI every year, but if India continues to develop at the current rate there could be parity within a decade.
Of the $10bn made in Q1, slightly more than $2.2bn was a result of the purchasing of shares by foreign companies in Indian businesses.
To highlight the speed with which India's economy is growing, a Mumbai newspaper noted that the total accrued through FDI was less than $10bn annually in 2005/06 before exploding to $22bn the following year and $32bn in 2007/08.
Tesco announced last week that it is to supply thousands of Indian shopkeepers and supermarkets with its products in a multi-million-pound deal with Indian conglomerate Tata.