After declining for two months in a row, foreign direct investment (FDI) in India during January grew by eight percent to $2.15 billion from the $2 billion in In January 2012, reports PTI.

In November 2012, India attracted FDI worth $1.05 billion, which was a two-year low. Similarly, in December last year the inflows dropped by 19 percent. Decline in foreign investments could put pressure on the country's balance of payments and may also impact the value of rupee.

During the April-January period of the current fiscal, FDI fell by 39 percent to $19.10 billion from the $31.28 billion, on account of global economic uncertainties, an official in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said.

Sectors that received large FDI inflows during the first 10 months of this fiscal include services ($4.66 billion), hotel and tourism ($3.19 billion), metallurgical ($1.38 billion), construction ($1.20 billion) and pharmaceuticals ($1 billion), the official said.

India received maximum FDI from Mauritius ($8.17 billion), followed by Japan ($1.69 billion), Singapore ($1.82 billion), the Netherlands ($1.51 billion) and the UK ($1.04 billion).

In 2011-12, the inflows had aggregated to $36.50 billion, compared with $19.42 billion in 2010-11 and $25.83 billion in 2009-10.

India would require around $ one trillion in the next five years to improve its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.

Expressing optimism, the official said liberalization of the FDI policy in various sectors would help boost inflows in the coming months.

RTTNews