Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India grew by 13 per cent to a record of USD 49.97 billion in the 2019-20 financial year, according to official data.

The country had received FDI of USD 44.36 billion during April-March 2018-19.

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Sectors which attracted maximum foreign inflows during 2019-20 include services (USD 7.85 billion), computer software and hardware (USD 7.67 billion), telecommunications (USD 4.44 billion), trading (USD 4.57 billion), automobile (USD 2.82 billion), construction (USD 2 billion), and chemicals (USD one billion), the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) data showed.

Singapore emerged as the largest source of FDI in India during the last fiscal with USD 14.67 billion investments.

It was followed by Mauritius (USD 8.24 billion), the Netherlands (USD 6.5 billion), the US (USD 4.22 billion), Caymen Islands (USD 3.7 billion), Japan (USD 3.22 billion), and France (USD 1.89 billion).

FDI is important as the country requires major investments to overhaul its infrastructure sector to boost growth.