Gross FDI flows to India accelerate to $90.8 billion, services sector dominates: Morgan Stanley

New Delhi, April 23 Gross FDI (equity) flows to India accelerated to $90.8 billion (2.3 per cent of GDP) in January 2026 on a on a 12-month trailing basis, up by a healthy 13 per cent from $80.3 billion in January 2025 (2.1 per cent of GDP), a Morgan Stanley report showed on Thursday.

Gross FDI (ex repatriation) improved to a three-year high of $36.3 billion in January 26, rising 38.4 per cent on-year. The trend in gross FDI has recovered steadily since January 2024, underpinned by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and improving depth of its domestic demand.

“Currently, the gross FDI pipeline has been balanced by both greenfield projects (primarily in the IT and banking sectors) and brownfield projects via higher stakes of foreign companies in existing Indian ventures or via joint ventures as well as mergers and acquisitions (financial sector and startups),” the report noted.

According to the report, services sector continues to dominate FDI flows, accounting for 46 per cent of share, while flows within manufacturing, one-quarter of total flows, have diversified to sectors such as autos and electronics, supported by policy impetus.

India's market share in global FDI edged up to 2.4 per cent in 2025, a tad below its five-year average of 2.6 per cent. Similarly, India's share in FDI-related flows to Asia climbed up by 200bp to 6.4 per cent, higher than its five year average at 5.7 per cent.

However, net FDI remains near all-time low, tracking at $0.5 billion in January 2026, on a 12-month trailing basis, constrained by increasing incidence of repatriation and outward FDI.

Morgan Stanley analysts said that improving strength in gross FDI is encouraging at the margin, and is likely to remain well-supported, aided by a combination of both greenfield and brownfield investment.

“We anticipate the trend to sustain, albeit with the magnitude of flows likely to remain lumpy and deal-driven, and would remain contingent on both domestic and global growth as well as financial conditions. The trend in net FDI remains crucial from an external balance sheet perspective, as FDI is typically a more stable source of financing for the current account,” they noted.

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