Reflecting economic slowdown in the world's major economies, foreign direct investment into India dipped by over 50% to $1.16 billion in October for the second month in a row.
The country had received $2.33 billion overseas investment in the same month last year. In September, the inflows were at $1.76 billion, down by 16.5% year-on-year.
However, during the April-October period, the FDI went up by 50.3% to $20.8 billion, from $13.84 billion in the year-ago period as inflows were robust in the initial months, a senior government official said.
While in August foreign investment inflows had increased over two-fold to $2.83 billion, year-on-year, in July they declined after a significant jump for two consecutive months -- May and June.
Despite uncertainties in the global economy, FDI may touch $35 billion in 2011-12, as against $19.4 billion in the last fiscal on account of major deals like RIL-BP and Posco, the official added.
In 2010-11, equity inflows through the FDI route had dipped 25% to $19.43 billion, from $25.6 billion in 2009-10. In 2008-09, FDI stood at $27.3 billion.
According to experts, uncertain economic conditions in the US and Europe are one of the major reasons for the declining FDI in India.
Mauritius, Singapore, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany and the UAE are major sources of FDI for India.
During April-October, the sectors that attracted the maximum FDI include services, construction activities, power, computers and hardware, telecom and housing and real estate.
Wooing global investors by easing FDI procedures, the Reserve Bank yesterday said that transfer of shares between Indians and non-residents will not require its permission in several key areas like financial services.