This week India crossed a major milestone as a top global investment destination. Latest data reveals that Foreign Direct Investment into India crossed the thousand-billion-dollar mark since the turn of the century, showing how India has been the favoured destination for foreign investors.

The data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade or DPIIT showed that the cumulative amount of FDI, including equity, reinvested earnings and other capital, stood at USD 1,033.40 billion (or $1 trillion) between April 2000 and September 2024.

To get a perspective of just how gigantic a trillion dollars really is, let’s take this simple example – If a person was to earn one dollar (Rs. 84) per second (i.e. a trillion dollars in trillion seconds) – then it would take the person 11.5 days to earn a million dollars. But here’s where is gets interesting. Continuing to earn a dollar a second, it would take the person 31.7 years to reach the billion-dollar mark, and a staggering 31,709 years to reach the trillion-dollar figure.

Another thought-provoking way to look at this is that India, which is the fifth largest global economy, has an overall GDP of around $3.89 trillion in 2024. It used to be around $2 trillion in 2014. Now compare that to the FDI inflow of $1 trillion in the last two decades.

SOURCE OF THE FDI

So, where did all this investment come from? Which are the countries from which these investments flowed in? One might assume that the top spot would be either the US, which is the largest economy in the world, or perhaps China, which is the second-largest economy globally. But it’s neither.

The country which has contributed the most in terms of FDI in India during this period is Mauritius – a massive 25 per cent of all FDI inflows came via this route. Mauritius was closely followed by Singapore at 24 per cent. The United States of America came a distant third with 10 per cent.

Other countries which have invested significantly in India include The Netherlands at 7 per cent, Japan at 6 per cent, The UK at 5 per cent, UAE at 3 per cent, and the Cayman Islands, Germany, and Cyprus all accounting for 2 per cent each.

SECTORS WHICH SAW BIG INVESTMENT

The sector which saw the highest investment was the services and allied sector. There was significant investment in computer software and hardware, telecommunications, trading, construction, infrastructure development, automobile, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.

FDI INFLOWS ON THE RISE

Of the 1,033 billion dollars, USD 667.4 billion came in the last ten years between 2014 and 2024 showing a 119 per cent uptick in investment when compared to the previous decade. The data also revealed that FDI inflows have come for nearly 60 sectors across 31 states and union territories in India.

To attract more investment over time, India has also made its investment policies liberal and lucrative. Reforms have resulted in most sectors, barring ones of strategic importance, see 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route.

Giving impetus to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the manufacturing sector has seen a 69 per cent rise in FDI in the last ten years as compared to the prior ten.

WHICH SECTORS ARE OPEN AND WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE

FDI is allowed through the automatic route in most of the sectors, while in areas like telecom, media, pharmaceuticals and insurance, government approval is required for foreign investors.

Under the government approval route, a foreign investor has to get a prior nod from the ministry or department concerned, whereas, under the automatic route, an overseas investor is only required to inform the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after the investment is made.

At present, FDI is prohibited in some sectors. They are lottery, gambling and betting, chit funds, Nidhi company, real estate business, and manufacturing of cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes using tobacco.

(Inputs from PTI)
 

The father of Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash who died by suicide, said his son had been “broken from inside” after multiple cases were filed against him and his family by his wife.

Atul Subhash, the 34-year-old deputy general manager of a private firm, died by suicide on Monday in his Bengaluru apartment, leaving behind a 24-page suicide note, accusing his wife and her relatives of harassment. In his suicide note, he also alleged that a judge had demanded Rs 5 lakh to “settle” the case.

“My son used to say that there is a lot of corruption but he will fight as he is on the path of truth…He was broken from inside, though he didn’t tell anyone anything,” Subhash’s father Pawan Kumar told ANI.

Mr Kumar, who currently stays in Bihar’s Samastipur, said Subhash’s wife started filing cases against them in January 2021.

“She started filing cases since January 2021…My son had thought that she had left (their home) after Corona and that their 1-year-old son would grow up a little at his maternal uncle’s home… she also started filing cases against our entire family,” the father said.

Earlier, a four-member team of Bengaluru Police, including one woman police personnel reached Kotwali in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. Jaunpur is the residence of Subhash’s in-laws.

The father has alleged that the judge overseeing the case also asked for Rs 5 lakhs to “settle the case”.

“When they went ahead for mediation, it began from Rs 20,000 and then escalated to Rs 40,000; then the judge said that if he (the deceased) wants a settlement, he should give Rs 5 Lakh,” the father said.

Meanwhile, the brother of the deceased, Vikas, said his family had “no idea” that the Bengaluru techie would take such a drastic step.

“We talked to him normally. We had no idea he had decided to take such a step. We had never felt he was going to take such a step. I am in touch with a few of his friends and even they didn’t have any idea of his thoughts,” the brother said.

The brother also alleged that there had been “false cases” filed on him and his family too, saying that his brother had been mentally tortured.

“False cases have been filed on me, and my parents, just like they were filed on my brother. Action should be taken against all those who mentally tortured my brother and filed false cases against him,” the brother said.

He further claimed that Atul Subhash also wrote to various leaders and institutes, including the President and the Supreme Court, explaining his situation in detail.

“If those emails have reached them, we hope action is taken and some laws, forums, or committees are made where men can go to seek justice… Laws and provisions made to empower women are today being misused,” the brother added.

Earlier on December 11, the SC also expressed concern over the growing tendency to misuse Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which penalises cruelty by husbands and their relatives against married women.

While quashing a Section 498A IPC case against a husband and his parents in a different case, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh said that the Section became a tool for unleashing personal vendetta against the husband and his family by a wife.

Atul Subhash died by suicide in the early hours of December 9 after alleging harassment from his wife and her family.

Subhash wrote “Justice is due” on every page of a 24-page note. He also alleged in his suicide note that his wife had filed nine cases against him under various sections, including murder, sexual misconduct, harassment for money, domestic violence, and dowry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Several Delhi schools, including Bhatnagar International, Cambridge, and DPS Amar Colony, received bomb threats Friday morning, suspending classes. Fire services responded to calls starting at 4:21 a.m., dispatching tenders to ensure student and staff safety. Additional calls continued to be received as officials investigated the threats.