By NNN-Bernama,
New Delhi : Singapore has emerged the second largest investor in the Indian economy, contributing about nine per cent of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country.
India received a total of US$35.16 billion (RM123 billion) from April 2008 through March 2009, with Singapore investing about US$3.4 billion (RM11.9 billion).
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has listed the island state behind Mauritius, while the United States was trailing after Singapore.
Most of Singapore’s investments were in the telecommunication, services, electrical equipment, power generation, oil refinery and transportation sectors.
Bulk of India’s FDI flows was via Mauritius, a tax haven due to its less than three per cent corporate tax, which attracted many foreign companies to channel their investments through the tiny Indian Ocean state.
Funds from Mauritius were estimated at about US$11 billion (RM38.5 billion), which was about 44 per cent of India’s total FDI.
American investments amounted to US$1.8 billion (RM6.3 billion) for the same period.