March 31, 2014; NEW DELHI: According to the official data, FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) has gone down by 3% to 22.3 billion US$ in 2013 in India. US$22.78 billion of FDI was attracted by India in 2012 as per the data given by DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion).Â
The sectors which attracted foreign investment in 2013 are service, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, construction development, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, chemicals and power. Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Japan, UAE and France are the countries that invested in India during the year.Â
As the government has allowed more sectors to enter foreign investments in 2013, Tesco (UK's largest retailer), Singapore Airlines and Etihad come up to invest in India. FDI norms have been relaxed by the government in almost a dozen sectors including defence, telecom, commodity bourses, PSU oil refineries, stock exchanges and power exchanges.Â
Uk retail major Tesco has submitted its application towards the close of the year for investing US$ 110 million to start a supermarket chain with Tata Group's Trent.Â
For the funding of infrastructure growth covering sectors like airports, ports and highways, India will require US$ 1 trillion in the 12th Five Year Plan period i.e. between 2012-13 and 2016-17. The rupee that had depreciated to 68.75 against the US dollar on 28th August last year would get hurt by a decline in FDI. The rupee has strengthened since then to about 60 levels.