Defence industries have attracted a meagre USD 10,000 (about Rs seven lakh) foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2017-18, Parliament was informed today. In 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 defence industries received USD 0.82 million, USD 0.08 million, USD 0.10 million foreign inflows, respectively. In 2016-17, the industries failed to attract foreign direct investments. Meanwhile, as many as six sectors, including coal production, ports, dye stuffs and coir industries, have failed to attract any foreign direct investments during the last financial year, according to the data shared by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The minister said that the government has put in place a liberal and transparent policy for FDI, wherein most of the sectors are open under the automatic approval route.
“FDI is largely a matter of private business decisions and FDI inflows depend on a host of factors such as availability of natural resources, market size, infrastructure, and general investment climate as well as macroeconomic stability and investment decision of foreign investors,” he said. India imports 70 per cent of its military hardware from different countries. Growth rate of foreign direct investment in India recorded a five-year low of 3 per cent at USD 44.85 billion in 2017-18.
