What’s in the news?

• The UN Conference on Trade and Development has released its World Investment Report 2021.
• The Report supports policymakers by monitoring global and regional investment trends and national and international policy developments. This year’s report reviews investment in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and shows the influence of investment policies on public health and economic recovery from the pandemic.

Highlights of the Report

• India received USD 64 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in 2020, the fifth largest recipient of inflows in the world.
• The report said, in India, Foreign Direct Investment increased 27 per cent, to USD 64 billion in 2020, from USD 51 billion in 2019, pushed up by acquisitions in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry.
• The pandemic boosted demand for digital infrastructure and services globally. This led to higher values of greenfield FDI project announcements targeting the ICT industry, rising by more than 22 per cent to $81 billion.

• Global Foreign Direct Investment flows have been severely hit by the pandemic and they plunged 35 per cent in 2020, to USD 1 trillion from USD 1.5 trillion the previous year.
• While some of the largest economies in developing Asia such as China and India recorded FDI growth in 2020, the rest recorded a contraction.
• FDI outflows from South Asia fell 12 per cent to $12 billion, driven by a drop in investment from India. India ranked 18 out of the world’s top 20 economies for FDI outflows, with 12 billion dollars of outflows recorded from the country in 2020 as compared to 13 billion dollars in 2019.
• The report noted that the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in India weighs heavily on the country’s overall economic activities but its strong fundamentals provide “optimism” for the medium term.

Reference:

1. https://newsonair.gov.in/News?title=India-receives-USD-64-billion-in-FDI-in-2020%3b-becomes-5th-largest-recipient-of-inflows-in-world&id=420106