The spurt in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that started with the launch of open economy policies of the Narasimha Rao government in 1991 seems to have stagnated in the last 3-4 years. Right from 1991 till 1997, there seems to be a perceptible interest in India by the foreign investors. However, soon after, there is a drop. And it is at those levels that inflows have remained. The reasons for this could be two. One, that after the initial hoopla of the opening of the Indian economy, there is not much left to discover. Moreover, subsequent governments have not announced any significant policies that would give investment figures a push. Secondly, the political uncertainty, after the end of the Rao tenure, may have turned potential investors sceptical. Obviously, new initiatives are needed. Among the top investors remain the US, a surprise Mauritius, UK, Japan and South Korea. And the hottest buys are fuel and telecom. The most notable factor remains the difference between the approvals and the actual inflows. Bureaucratic hurdles need to be removed to bridge this difference. Bureau Report