India And China Only Nations To Record Growth In FDI In 2020; India Fastest In The World At 13 Per Cent 

In a positive development, as per the data shared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Sunday, while global foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020 collapsed by 42 per cent, India witnessed the inflows surge by 13 per cent, reports Livemint.

While FDI inflows declined most strongly in nations like the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Russia, it was only India and China emerged as the only nations to show remarkably high growth in inflows.

India FDI inflows were strengthened by investments in the digital sector, particularly via acquisition route. Also, in total, the cross border merge and acquisition grew 83 per cent to $27 billion in India in 2020. This includes 10 per cent acquisition of Jio platform by Jaadhu owned by Facebook valued at $5.7 billion.

Meanwhile, though second in terms of growth, China emerged as the world's largest recipient in terms of the quantum of FDI in 2020, garnering a total of $163 billion inflows. As per a Wall Street Journal report, China also overtook the US as the world’s leading destination for foreign direct investment as the latter saw the inflows nearly halve in 2020.