Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran estimates gross Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Fiscal Year 2025-26 to exceed $90 billion.
“FDI in April-February period exceeded $88 billion and there is one more month in the year. Going by this trend, our expectation is FY 26 is likely to close with over $90 billion with northward bias,” Nageswaran told businessline. If it happens, this will break the range of $70-80 billion or slightly more, recorded during last four years, he added. This could also mean that FDI in FY26 is expected to be 10 per cent higher than FY25
“For the first time, FDI for a full fiscal could be 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Products (GDP),” Nageswaran said. He also said that the trend in FDI is so far reply to people questioning India’s ability to get more FDI. “Latest trend proves that India remains attractive destination for foreign investment,” he said.
According to an RBI report, gross FDI witnessed strong growth, while net FDI showed improvement. During April-February period of FY26, FDI inflows remained higher than last year both in gross and net terms. In February, net FDI turned positive after remaining negative for six consecutive months, on account of higher gross inflows and lower repatriations.
India’s gross inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows increased robustly by 18.1 per cent to $88.3 billion during April-February period of FY26 Subsequently, net FDI increased to $ 6.3 billion during 2025-26 (April-February) from $ 1.5 billion a year ago, despite elevated FDI repatriation and outward FDI. Manufacturing, computer services, financial services, business services, and communication services accounted for more than two-thirds of total equity inflows during 2025-26 so far (up to February).
Furthermore, “Singapore, the US, Mauritius, Japan, and the Netherlands were the major source countries of inward FDI to India, accounting for around three-fourth of the total inflows,” the report said. It also highlighted that India remains an attractive destination for greenfield FDI projects. “As per FDI Markets data, during 2025-26 (April-January), greenfield project announcements to India were S$ 65 billion ($73 billion during April-January 2024-25),” it said, Top 5 greenfield FDI project announcements in the fields of information technology and banking by Amazon, Microsoft, Google, General Catalyst and the MUFG Bank reflect investor optimism and a strong FDI pipeline,” it added.
During just concluded Budget session of Parliament, Minister of State in the Commerce & Industry, Jitin Prasada listed various reasons for strong FDI flow. As per United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2025, India moved up to 15th position among global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) recipients in 2024 from 16th position in 2023. “The Government of India always strives to attract larger FDI by removing regulatory barriers, streamlining processes, developing infrastructure, bettering logistics and improving the business environment by enhancing the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB),” Prasada said.
According to him. the Regulatory Compliance Burden (RCB) initiative has resulted in over 42,000 compliance reductions, under 670 acts nationwide. At the same time, Jan Vishwas Act of 2023 decriminalised 183 provisions across 42 Central Acts from 19 Ministries/Departments, similar act of 2026 replaces imprisonment with civil penalties or fines for more than 780 provisions under 79 Central Acts.
Published on April 26, 2026