Foreign direct investment in India refused for the third consecutive month in March, dropping by 11 per cent year-on-year to 1.07 billion Dollars in the backdrop of financial havoc in Europe. The country received 1.2 billion Dollars in FDI in the consistent period last year. During the financial year 2010—11, the inflows droped by 25 % to 19.43 billion Dollars, which makes it vital for the country to fine tune its policies to attract overseas investment, sources told.

The FDI during 2009—10 had totalled 25.83 billion Dollars during 2009—10, which, too, was lower than 27.33 billion Dollars invested in the previous financial year. “The numbers are not enough, the govt. has to take more steps,” sources said. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the nodal agency on FDI policies, has initiated steps, including merging of all related rules and regulations into a single document. In January and February FDI drowned by 48 per cent (1.2 billion Dollars) and 30 per cent (1.04 billion Dollars), respectively, over the same period previous year. The sectors that attracted FDI include services, telecommunications, housing and real estate, construction activities and power.

The major investors in India are US, UK, Singapore, Netherlands, Japan, Germany and UAE. Foreign institutional Investors have invested 3.6 billion Dollars since January 01 till May 5, 2011.