Bright side

Foreign direct investments have had an ambiguous position in the discourse of economic development.

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On the one hand, FDI is viewed as an augmented source of scarce investment funds and a contributor to macroeconomic growth. On the other hand, it is perceived to be a source of exploitation where foreign firms use cheap labour and slack regulations to produce at low costs to sell at very high profits, most of which are repatriated to the home country of the investor. India has moved from holding the latter world-view to the more modern one of viewing FDI as a positive feature of economic development. Indeed, India has not only seen a growing flow of FDI since the economy was opened up but Indian firms are also moving into foreign markets with growing regularity. The latest data available for the financial year, 2024-25,