FDI Surges 36.5 Per Cent In Services Sector In 2018-19 Amidst Marginal Overall Decline

In a massive boost for India's services sector, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the sector surged by a stellar 36.5 per cent in 2018-19 compared to the previous year according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), reports The Hindu BusinessLine.

The sector received FDI of $9.15 billion in 2018-19 compared to $6.7 billion in the previous financial year of 2017-18. This gains significance as the services sector contributes a whopping 60 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of India.

It should be noted that to boost the FDI in services sector the Government of India had taken several prudential steps like fixing timeliness for approvals and streamlining procedures to improve ease of doing business in the country.

Various domains under the services sector include finance, banking, insurance, outsourcing, research and development, courier, technology testing and analysis. Also apart from the services sector, other sectors which registered a growth in FDI received include computer software and hardware, trading, automobile industry and chemicals.

However, overall FDI saw a marginal decline over the previous year, falling by around one per cent to $44.37 billion.