Stating that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the country rose by 25.4 per cent in 2020 thus helping India to become the fifth largest recipient in the world, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said FDI inflows in 2020 rose by USD 13 billion to reach USD 64 billion.
Sitharaman further asserted that India’s strong fundamentals and market size will continue to attract market-seeking greenfield investments while adding that the announced greenfield projects in India contracted by 19 per cent in 2020. However, this decline is significantly lower than the 44 per cent decline in developing economies, the minister added. She made the comments in a written reply to Lok Sabha earlier today.
While addressing the massive contraction in the GDP which sunk by 7.3 per cent in 2020-21, Sitharaman said that it was caused due to the unparalleled effect of the 'once in a century' Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions which followed to curb the spread of the virus.
The fundamentals of the economy remained strong as gradual scaling back of lockdowns, along with the astute support of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Mission placed the economy firmly on the path of recovery from the second half of FY 2020-21, she added.
According to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects June 2021, she said, global growth for 2021 has been revised upward to 5.6 per cent, largely due to the sharp rebound in major economies driven by continued vaccination and substantial fiscal support.
India is expected to grow at a significantly faster rate compared to the global average growth.
The government of India is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of Covid-19 vaccination throughout the country, she said, adding, the average daily vaccination rate has doubled to 41.3 lakh doses in June compared to 19.3 lakh in May, subsequent to implementation of the revised national COVID Vaccination Policy since June 21, 2021.
India has now crossed the 38-crore mark in its cumulative COVID vaccination coverage with 23 per cent of the population covered under the first dose and 5.6 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, she added.
The government of India on June 28, 2021 announced a stimulus package of Rs 6,28,993 crore, the Finance Minister said in another reply.
The package aims to boost diverse sectors of the economy affected by Covid-19 pandemic, she said, adding, the government has announced a total of 17 measures in three broad categories -- Economic Relief from the Pandemic, Strengthening Public Health and Impetus for Growth and Employment.
The Finance Minister further said that the CPI- Combined inflation in June 2021 was 6.26 per cent, as against the average CPI-Combined inflation of 6.16 per cent during 2020-21.
The weight of fuels like petrol, diesel and other fuels in the total CPI-Combined is only 2.52 per cent, she said.
Replying to another starred question, Sitharaman said wages of officers and other employees of the Life Insurance Corporation of India have been revised with effect from August 1, 2017.
(With PTI inputs)
