Economic Factors and Foreign Direct Investment in India: A Correlation Study

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays a pivotal role in the process of economic development particularly in the capital scarce country, where the domestic base of created assets like technology, skills and entrepreneurship are quite limited. It provides financial resources for investment in a host country and thereby augments domestic saving efforts. It also plays an important role in accelerating the pace of economic growth. FDI provides the much-needed foreign exchange to help the bridge the balance of payment or trade deficit. FDI brings complementary assets such as technology, management and organizational competencies and there are spillover effects of these assets on the rest of the economy. FDI is treated as a main engine of economic growth and technological development which provides ample opportunities in accelerating economic development. FDI contributes to exports directly and an enhanced export possibility contributes to the growth of the host economies by relaxing demand side constraints on economic growth. The present study adds to the existing literature on determinants of FDI by examining the degree of correlation between FDI inflow in India and several economic factors like exchange rate, GDP, openness of trade etc.