Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that FDI inflow continues despite the pandemic
Foreign investors pulled out a net Rs 1,14,856 crore from Indian markets in 2021-22 and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold domestic equities worth Rs 48,261 crore in March 2022 alone, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament on Monday. Investment (FDI) inflows have remained “uninterrupted”.
To a question by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor as to what the government was planning to do to reverse the trend of withdrawal of funds by foreign investors, the Finance Minister intervened while his junior colleague Pankaj Choudhary was trying to answer, and Said that “FPIs and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are obviously going to be, because it is typical of their nature, to come in and out. But what needs to be looked at with fairness and impartiality is FDI. India is the largest recipient of FDI before COVID and it continues during COVID.
Replying to the question in Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister said that “In fact, it (FDI) continues to be very significant during and after COVID. It is he who indicates that the money that is coming in is investing in this country creating jobs and prospects for us, not just by pointing out FIIs and FPIs… FIIs and FPIs can come may and may go but today Indian retail investors have proved that if they come and go, any shocks to come can now be overcome due to the shock-absorbing capability brought by the Indian retailer to the Indian market. is taken into account. I think we should stand as one house and appreciate the Indian retailer who has put a lot of faith in the stock market in India today.
Ms Sitharaman said investment should be assessed not only by looking at FIIs and FPIs, which by their very nature see interest rates moving up and down, but also the steady flow of FDI into the country.
He said that “FIIs and FPIs can be very tempted by interest rates elsewhere and prospects elsewhere”.
Expressing concern over the fact that March was the sixth month when FIIs withdrew from positions in the Indian equity market, Mr Tharoor questioned that the “worrying” trend could be exacerbated by the rise in US interest rates and commodity prices. Especially the rise in crude oil.