In June 2012, the country had received FDI worth USD 1.24 billion.

During April-June period of the fiscal, foreign direct investment into the country grew by 22 per cent to USD 5.39 billion from USD 4.42 billion during the same period of previous year, a senior official in Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) told the agency.

The sectors that received large FDI inflows during the first quarter of the fiscal include pharmaceuticals (USD 1 billion), services (USD 945 million), automobile industry (USD 515 million) and computer software and hardware (USD 171 million), the official said.

The maximum FDI during the quarter came from Singapore (USD 1.85 billion), followed by Mauritius (USD 1.09 billion), Germany (USD 510 million), the Netherlands (USD 408 million) and the US (USD 315 million).'

The official added that recent steps taken by the government are helping in improving the investment environment in the country.

The government has liberalised FDI policy in as many as 12 sectors which include telecom, tea and petroleum & natural gas.

FDI inflows in 2012-13 aggregated USD 22.42 billion, a decline from USD 36.50 billion in 2011-12.

India is estimated to require about USD 1 trillion between 2012-13 to 2016-17 to fund infrastructure such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.

An increase in FDI will help support the rupee, which depreciated to a record low of 64.43 against the US dollar intra-day before recovering marginally today.

PTI