According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), recent trends in FDI flows at the global level and across regions and countries indicate that India has drawn increasing FDI flows and has remained among the top desirable destinations for international investors.

The Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) census in India, which is part of the global Co-Ordered Direct Investment Survey programme, has been a significant step forward in assessing foreign investment and providing consistent annual statistics on FDI (equity and debt) on face value and at market value.

Inward FDI is significantly influenced by trade openness, economic growth prospects, market size, labour cost, and capital account openness of the host countries, according to an empirical analysis of factors influencing inward FDI, which considers major countries in terms of their FDI stock position in India.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is important for any country’s economic development since it helps to meet the investment needs of a capital deficit economy by closing the savings-investment gap. Both rich and developing economies have made major efforts to improve the knowledge base on FDI, with valuation being a key component. With the introduction of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Co-Ordered Direct Investment Survey (CDIS) and the compilation of Foreign Affiliate Trade Statistics in India, significant progress has been made in this area

A number of data bases on FDI statistics for India have become accessible throughout time. Global concepts aid in comprehending the statistical procedures employed by countries in gathering data, and the resulting statistics can be used to compare countries. Naturally, governments with a liberal investment policy face significant difficulty in estimating foreign investment. The Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) census in India, which is part of the global CDIS programme, has been a significant step forward in this area because it provides consistent annual data on face value and market value of FDI in India based on thorough enumeration.

Differences in direct investment estimates for major FDI source countries as reported by the FLA census and as reported by the partner country in CDIS are due to differences in reference dates, coverage of investor/invested firms, estimation methodology (census/ surveys), accounting and valuation issues, reporting errors, and so on. Global statistical organisations such as the IMF, World Bank, OECD, UNCTAD, European Commission, and others are working to standardise concepts and methodologies to address cross-border statistical disparities.

Inward FDI is significantly influenced by the host country’s trade openness, economic growth prospects, market size, labor cost, and capital account openness, according to an empirical analysis of factors influencing inward FDI, which considers major countries in terms of their FDI stock position in India.

Bureau Galactik Views