The foreign direct investment (FDI) into India fell 9% in 2017 to $40 million, said a new trade report by the UN.

Share Market Live

NSE

According to the World Investment Report 2018 by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the FDI inflows into India were stagnant for two continuous years — 2015 and 2016 — and this the first fall in India’s FDI inflow in last five years.

The fall in FDI inflow was seen despite many big FDI investments being sealed during this period.

For instance, Petrol Complex Pte Ltd (Singapore), owned by Rosneftegaz (Russian Federation), acquired a 49% stake of Essar Oil Ltd for $13 billion.

Other major FDI investments during the year include Microsoft Corporation (US), eBay Inc (US) and Tencent Holdings (China) together acquiring stake in India’s biggest e-commerce firm Flipkart for $1.4 billion.

SoftBank Group Corp (Japan) acquired a 20% stake in digital wallet company Paytm for around $1.4 billion.

On the positive side, India’s FDI outflows to other countries more than doubled to $11 billion in 2017, the report said.

Among India’s BRICS peers, FDI inflows into Brazil increased by 9% in 2017 and China’s FDI inflows were also marginally up, last year.

Though, FDI inflows into Russia were down by 32%, last year. Data on FDI inflows in other BRICS nations — South Africa and Indonesia — were not covered in the report.

First Published:Jun 8, 2018 11:57 AM IST