Over 90% FDI inflows through automatic route in Apr-Dec: Govt

New Delhi: A little over ninety percent of the total foreign direct investment received during April-December this fiscal came through automatic route, the government said Wednesday.

"FDI equity inflow received through automatic route and approval route during the current financial year (up to December 2015) is 90.24 percent and 9.76 percent respectively," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the country has received USD 29.44 billion foreign direct investment (FDI).

She said government has put in place a liberal and transparent policy for FDI, wherein most of the sectors are open to FDI under the automatic route.

She also said that the government has taken a number of steps to improve ease of doing business in India.

As many as 20 services have been integrated with the e-biz portal to function as single window portal for obtaining government clearances.

In a separate reply, she said the demand for electronics in the Indian market is expected to reach US 400 billion by 2020.

"Without intervention, at the current rate of growth, domestic production can cater to a demand of about USD 100 billion by 2020," she said.

"While the future is difficult to predict, the value of imports of electronics goods during April-December 2015 was USD 31.06 billion, which is less than the value of imports of petroleum products during the same period, which were USD 68.2 billion during the period," she added.

She said that the government has taken several steps to promote electronics hardware manufacturing in the country.