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ARTHA

The momentum has continued into FY 2025–26, with FDI
equity inflows rising 18 per cent year-on-year during
April–December 2025, and a robust USD 6.56 billion
recorded in April 2025 alone - one of the strongest
monthly performances in recent years.

India also emerged among the world’s leading
destinations as per UNCTAD World Investment Report
2025 for greenfield investment announcements - a critical
indicator because greenfield projects represent new
capacity creation, employment generation and long-term
investor commitment.

Behind this sustained rise lies India’s macroeconomic
stability - a key differentiator among emerging economies.
Further, policy predictability has reinforced this stability.
More than 90 per cent of the FDI inflow is received under
the automatic route. India has embarked on a series of
reforms aimed at liberalizing its FDI policies, with the goal
of stimulating economic growth and encouraging foreign
capital inflows. In the recent past, reforms in the FDI Policy
have been undertaken in sectors such as Defence,
Insurance, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Telecom, and Space.
These calibrated liberalisations send a consistent Infrastructure modernisation has reinforced this
message: India is open to foreign capital, technology and transition. The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP)
global partnerships. is a transformative approach for the integrated planning
of multimodal infrastructure and last mile connectivity
Regulatory reform has moved in parallel. The Jan Vishwas ensuring the seamless movement of people and goods.
Act decriminalised 183 provisions in 42 Central Acts The NMP integrates GIS-based data layers across
administered by 19 Ministries/Departments, shifting ministries, enabling coordinated planning of transport
governance toward a trust-based model. More than corridors, logistics networks and industrial clusters. By
47,000 compliance burdens have been reduced or reducing execution delays and lowering logistics costs,
eliminated, enhancing efficiency and certainty for India is addressing long-standing structural bottlenecks
long-term investors. that once constrained competitiveness.

Structural reforms have further reshaped the investment From USD 36 billion a decade ago to over USD 80 billion
landscape. The Goods and Services Tax unified the annually today, and with cumulative inflows exceeding
national market and reduced internal trade barriers. The USD 1.14 trillion, India’s FDI journey illustrates the power of
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code strengthened credit sustained reform, institutional credibility and
discipline and resolution timelines. Together, these macroeconomic discipline. In a fragmented global
reforms lowered transaction costs and enhanced economy where capital is becoming more selective, India
predictability. offers something increasingly rare: scale, stability and
strategic clarity.
A defining inflection point has been the Production Linked
Incentive (PLI) strategy. By December 2025, PLI schemes The next phase will not merely be about attracting larger
had generated Rs 2.16 lakh crore in cumulative volumes of capital. It will be about deepening
investments, over Rs 20.41 lakh crore in cumulative sales, manufacturing capabilities, accelerating the
and more than 14.39 lakh jobs (direct & indirect) across clean-energy transition, integrating advanced
key sectors. Electronics, pharmaceuticals, telecom technologies and strengthening supply-chain resilience.
equipment and advanced manufacturing have been If the past decade has been about building confidence,
central beneficiaries, embedding India deeper into global the coming decade may well be about consolidating
value chains. The shift is evident: from passively receiving India’s position as a central anchor in the evolving
capital to actively shaping industrial ecosystems. architecture of global growth.

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