The open data portal’s sector tables stop their annual series at 2016-17 and give a cumulative total to June 2023. Subtracting one from the other shows what changed: inflow averaging $50 billion a year instead of $20 billion, and a different set of sectors taking it.
India’s FDI Moved to Software and Trading After 2017: Software Rose From 7.4% to 22.7% of Inflow, Townships Fell From 7.3% to 0.7%
India’s open data portal carries a sector-by-sector table of foreign direct investment equity inflows for every financial year from 2000-01 to 2016-17, and a second table of the cumulative inflow by sector from April 2000 to 30 June 2023. Nothing in between is published in the same form: no annual sector series for the six years after 2016-17. Subtracting the first table from the second gives the sector mix of what arrived from April 2017 to June 2023, and it is a different mix.
Of the $645.4 billion that came in by June 2023, $332.0 billion arrived in the first 17 years and about $313.4 billion in the next six and a quarter. Software and hardware took 22.7% of the second amount, against 7.4% of the first. Townships and housing took 0.7%, against 7.3%. This piece sets out what the two tables show, how far the subtraction can be trusted, and what DPIIT could publish so that nobody has to subtract.
The first seventeen years
Annual inflow went from $2.4 billion in 2000-01 to $43.5 billion in 2016-17. It stayed under $6 billion until 2005-06, then rose to $31.4 billion in 2008-09, about 5.7 times the 2005-06 figure in three years. It fell back in the two years after, reached a first peak of $35.1 billion in 2011-12, and dropped by 36% the year after, to $22.4 billion. From 2013-14 it rose every year to the 2016-17 high.
Two sectors were largest in those years: the services sector ($59.5 billion, 17.9% of the total) and software and hardware ($24.7 billion, 7.4%). Third was townships, housing and built-up infrastructure ($24.3 billion), which drew its largest single year in 2009-10 ($5.5 billion).
What arrived after April 2017, by subtraction
| 2000-01 to 2016-17 | Apr 2017 to Jun 2023 (derived) | Cumulative to Jun 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 17 years | 6.25 years | 23.25 years |
| FDI equity inflow, US$ billion | 332.0 | 313.4 | 645.4 |
| Average a year, US$ billion | 19.5 | 50.1 | 27.8 |
| Five biggest sectors’ share of the period’s inflow | 44.9% | 58.1% | – |
Sector tables, DPIIT (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) on data.gov.in. The first column is the sum of the annual file; the third is the cumulative file for 1 April 2000 to 30 June 2023; the middle column is this blog’s subtraction. “Five biggest” is the five largest sectors in each period, which are not the same five.
The yearly average rose from $19.5 billion to about $50.1 billion. The inflow was also more concentrated: the five biggest sectors took 58.1% of it against 44.9% before. No sector has a negative implied inflow, which is the first sign the two tables are on the same footing.
Who gained share and who lost it
Software and hardware went from $24.7 billion before April 2017 to about $71.2 billion after, 2.9 times as much, and from 7.4% of the inflow to 22.7%. The rise started before the cut-off: in 2015-16 and 2016-17 the sector took 11.4% of the inflow, against 7.4% for the whole earlier period. Trading rose from 4.3% to 8.2% and construction (infrastructure) from 3.0% to 6.6%. Non-conventional energy went from $5.2 billion to about $9.7 billion, and education from $1.4 billion to about $7.9 billion.
The biggest loser is townships and housing: $24.3 billion before, about $2.1 billion after. Telecommunications (7.2% to 4.9%), drugs and pharmaceuticals (4.4% to 2.2%) and the services sector (17.9% to 14.7%) all took smaller shares, though telecommunications and pharma still took more in dollars than they had in many earlier years. Automobiles held about the same share (5.0% to 5.9%).
| Sector (16 largest by cumulative inflow) | To 2016-17, US$ bn | Apr 2017–Jun 2023, US$ bn | Cumulative, US$ bn | Share of inflow, before → after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Services sector (finance, banking, insurance, business and others) | 59.5 | 45.9 | 105.4 | 17.9% → 14.7% |
| Computer software & hardware | 24.7 | 71.2 | 95.9 | 7.4% → 22.7% |
| Trading | 14.2 | 25.8 | 40.1 | 4.3% → 8.2% |
| Telecommunications | 23.9 | 15.3 | 39.3 | 7.2% → 4.9% |
| Automobile industry | 16.7 | 18.5 | 35.1 | 5.0% → 5.9% |
| Construction (infrastructure) activities | 9.8 | 20.7 | 30.5 | 3.0% → 6.6% |
| Construction development: townships, housing, built-up infrastructure | 24.3 | 2.1 | 26.4 | 7.3% → 0.7% |
| Drugs & pharmaceuticals | 14.7 | 6.8 | 21.6 | 4.4% → 2.2% |
| Chemicals (other than fertilizers) | 13.3 | 8.2 | 21.5 | 4.0% → 2.6% |
| Metallurgical industries | 10.3 | 7.0 | 17.3 | 3.1% → 2.2% |
| Hotel & tourism | 10.1 | 6.7 | 16.8 | 3.1% → 2.1% |
| Power | 11.6 | 5.1 | 16.7 | 3.5% → 1.6% |
| Non-conventional energy | 5.2 | 9.7 | 14.9 | 1.6% → 3.1% |
| Miscellaneous industries | 10.0 | 3.5 | 13.5 | 3.0% → 1.1% |
| Electrical equipment | 6.6 | 5.6 | 12.2 | 2.0% → 1.8% |
| Food processing industries | 7.5 | 4.6 | 12.2 | 2.3% → 1.5% |
The 16 sectors shown make up 80% of the cumulative inflow; the other 47 sectors, including hospitals (4.3 before, 4.6 after) and education (1.4 before, 7.9 after), are in the CSV published with this piece.
How far to trust the subtraction
The method has four weaknesses. First, the two tables are different vintages: the annual file was published in 2017 and the cumulative file runs to June 2023, and DPIIT revises earlier figures when it republishes. Any restatement of the first 17 years would land in the “after” column. Second, sector classes change over time, and the services sector is a group of many activities; a reclassification would move money between sectors without any investor doing anything. Third, the tables record equity inflows only, which is the part DPIIT can allocate to a sector; total FDI, with reinvested earnings and other capital, runs about 1.4 to 1.5 times as large. Fourth, a handful of very large deals can move a sector’s share in the cumulative file, and neither table shows deals.
One check is available from this blog’s own national series. Its figures for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 ($59.6, $58.8 and $46.0 billion) add up to $164.4 billion, or 52% of the derived $313.4 billion, which leaves $149.0 billion for 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and the first quarter of 2023-24. That is of the right order for three years at the 2016-17 pace plus a quarter, but this blog does not hold those four figures separately, so the subtraction cannot be tested more closely.
The metadata of the cumulative file is also inconsistent. The portal lists the resource as updated on 15 June 2022, but the data run to 30 June 2023. The file has no grand-total row and no note of which vintage or classification it uses.
Three more years, to June 2026
DPIIT’s quarterly fact sheet updated to June 2026, published in September 2026, carries the same 63-sector cumulative table (Annex B) through 30 June 2026: $807.5 billion of FDI equity since April 2000. Subtracting the June 2023 table used above leaves $162.2 billion for July 2023 to June 2026, or $54.1 billion a year.
The same fact sheet also allows the test this piece could not run before. It lists DPIIT’s financial-year equity totals for every year, including 2017-18 ($44.9 billion), 2018-19 ($44.4 billion) and 2019-20 ($50.0 billion). With April–June 2023 added, they sum to $314.6 billion for April 2017 to June 2023, against the $313.4 billion derived by subtraction: a gap of 0.4%. For July 2023 to June 2026 the derived figure and the year totals agree to within $1 million. Only one of the 63 sectors shows a negative implied inflow in the new period (photographic raw film and paper, −$53 million), which looks like a restatement rather than money leaving.
| 2000-01 to 2016-17 | Apr 2017 to Jun 2023 | Jul 2023 to Jun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 17 years | 6.25 years | 3 years |
| Sector tables, US$ billion | 332.0 | 313.4 (derived) | 162.2 (derived) |
| DPIIT financial-year totals, US$ billion | 330.9 | 314.6 | 162.2 |
| Gap, sector tables less year totals | +0.3% | -0.4% | +0.00% |
| Average a year, US$ billion | 19.5 | 50.1 | 54.1 |
Year totals are DPIIT’s financial-year FDI equity inflow (fact sheet to June 2026, table II.B). April–June 2023 ($10.9 billion) is from the monthly figures in the fact sheet to December 2023 and is moved from 2023-24 into the middle column. In the first column the 2017 open-data file sums to $1.1 billion more than the fact sheet’s year totals for the same years, a difference of vintage.
The mix moved again. Software and hardware is still the largest sector but its share eased from 22.7% to 19.5% ($31.6 billion). The services sector recovered from 14.7% to 18.8%. The biggest gainer is non-conventional energy: 3.1% of inflow in 2017-23, 7.0% in the last three years, $11.3 billion. Electronics (0.8% to 2.4%) and hospitals (1.5% to 2.7%) also gained. Automobiles fell from 5.9% to 3.6% and telecommunications from 4.9% to 0.8%. Townships and housing stayed where the first subtraction left them, at 0.7%.
| Sector (14 largest, Jul 2023–Jun 2026, plus two former leaders) | Jul 2023–Jun 2026, US$ bn | Share 2000-17 | Share 2017-23 | Share 2023-26 | Cumulative to Jun 2026, US$ bn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer software & hardware | 31.6 | 7.4% | 22.7% | 19.5% | 127.5 |
| Services sector | 30.5 | 17.9% | 14.7% | 18.8% | 135.9 |
| Trading | 13.5 | 4.3% | 8.2% | 8.3% | 53.5 |
| Non-conventional energy | 11.3 | 1.6% | 3.1% | 7.0% | 26.2 |
| Construction (infrastructure) | 8.8 | 3.0% | 6.6% | 5.4% | 39.3 |
| Automobile industry | 5.8 | 5.0% | 5.9% | 3.6% | 40.9 |
| Food processing | 4.6 | 2.3% | 1.5% | 2.8% | 16.7 |
| Hospitals & diagnostic centres | 4.3 | 1.3% | 1.5% | 2.7% | 13.2 |
| Electronics | 3.9 | 0.5% | 0.8% | 2.4% | 8.2 |
| Drugs & pharmaceuticals | 3.9 | 4.4% | 2.2% | 2.4% | 25.4 |
| Power | 3.6 | 3.5% | 1.6% | 2.2% | 20.3 |
| Chemicals (other than fertilizers) | 3.3 | 4.0% | 2.6% | 2.1% | 24.8 |
| Sea transport | 3.2 | 0.8% | 0.9% | 2.0% | 8.7 |
| Consultancy services | 2.6 | 1.1% | 1.7% | 1.6% | 11.5 |
| Telecommunications | 1.3 | 7.2% | 4.9% | 0.8% | 40.5 |
| Townships, housing & built-up infrastructure | 1.2 | 7.3% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 27.6 |
All 63 sectors and all three periods are in the updated CSV published with this piece. Shares are of each period’s total equity inflow.
The fact sheets also give annual figures for the ten largest sectors, the series this piece asked DPIIT to publish, though only for the latest three years and only for those ten sectors. Software and hardware took $13.9 billion in 2025-26, 23.7% of the year’s $58.8 billion and well above the $11.4 billion a year it averaged from April 2017 to June 2023. The first quarter of 2026-27 looks different: the services sector took $7.0 billion of $19.8 billion and software $2.8 billion. One quarter is too short to read as a trend; April 2026 alone brought in $12.1 billion, and the fact sheet does not name the deals behind it.
| FDI equity inflow, US$ billion (share of year) | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | Apr–Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Services sector | 6.6 (15%) | 9.3 (19%) | 10.0 (17%) | 7.0 (36%) |
| Computer software & hardware | 8.0 (18%) | 7.8 (16%) | 13.9 (24%) | 2.8 (14%) |
| Trading | 3.9 (9%) | 4.2 (8%) | 4.0 (7%) | 1.9 (10%) |
| Non-conventional energy | 3.8 (8%) | 4.0 (8%) | 3.0 (5%) | 1.2 (6%) |
| Construction (infrastructure) | 4.2 (10%) | 2.2 (4%) | 2.6 (4%) | 0.6 (3%) |
| Automobile industry | 1.5 (3%) | 1.6 (3%) | 2.5 (4%) | 0.6 (3%) |
| Drugs & pharmaceuticals | 1.1 (2%) | 0.9 (2%) | 1.9 (3%) | 0.1 (1%) |
| Chemicals (other than fertilizers) | 0.8 (2%) | 1.1 (2%) | 0.9 (1%) | 0.7 (4%) |
| Telecommunications | 0.3 (1%) | 0.7 (1%) | 0.1 (0%) | 0.3 (2%) |
| Townships, housing & built-up infrastructure | 0.3 (1%) | 0.5 (1%) | 0.4 (1%) | 0.0 (0%) |
| All sectors | 44.4 | 50.0 | 58.8 | 19.8 |
DPIIT quarterly fact sheets, table I.E (“sectors attracting highest FDI equity inflow”): 2024-25 to April–June 2026 from the sheet to June 2026; 2023-24 from the sheet to December 2025. Figures are provisional.
The recommendations below stand. The fact sheet’s annual figures cover ten sectors and three years; the other 53 sectors and the years before 2023-24 are still available only by subtraction. The June 2026 sheet also repeats DPIIT’s note that sector data “has been revalidated / reconciled in line with the RBI”, without saying which figures changed.
What would fix this
- The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade should publish annual sector-wise FDI equity inflow for every financial year from 2017-18, in the same format as the 2000-01 to 2016-17 file on the open data portal, so the sector mix after 2017 is a published series rather than a subtraction.
- DPIIT should publish, with each cumulative table, a revision note: which earlier years were restated, by how much, and which sector classes were merged or split since the previous release.
- DPIIT should publish the sector series for total FDI as well as equity inflow, with a bridge to the Reserve Bank of India’s balance-of-payments figures, so a sector share can be read against total inflow.
- DPIIT and the Reserve Bank should publish sector by state and sector by country tables on the same basis, so the sector series and the state and district series can be joined.
- The Ministry of Commerce and Industry should put a vintage date, the sector classification used, a grand-total row and a correct “last updated” date on every FDI file on the open data portal.
These are proposals from this blog, not recommendations any agency has adopted.
Sources and caveats
DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, on the open data portal (data.gov.in): “Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Equity Inflows” (catalogue published 29 July 2016; National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy). Three files were used: financial-year-wise FDI equity inflows by sector, 2000-01 to 2015-16 (updated 4 August 2016); the same, 2000-01 to 2016-17 (updated 13 July 2017), which agrees with the first file for every sector and year they share and whose rows add up to its grand total; and FDI equity inflows by sector from the year 2000 (cumulative, 1 April 2000 to 30 June 2023, 63 sectors, in rupees and US dollars; the portal lists it as updated 15 June 2022, which is earlier than its data). Both annual files were supplied to this blog as downloads from the portal, not read live. The column “Apr 2017 to Jun 2023” is this blog’s subtraction of the sum of the annual file from the cumulative file for each sector; every figure, share, average and ratio in the text and tables is computed from the files by script, and the sector table in full is published as a CSV with this article. Equity inflows only; total FDI is higher. The national series for 2020-21 to 2022-23 is this blog’s own, from DPIIT quarterly fact sheets and a Lok Sabha reply, and is used only for the single consistency check. The 23.25-year and 6.25-year averages treat the periods as 1 April 2000 to 30 June 2023 and 1 April 2017 to 30 June 2023. The article does not attribute the shifts to any policy or deal. No figure here is a forecast.
Added 23 October 2026: DPIIT, Quarterly Fact Sheet on FDI Inflow, updated up to June 2026 (published September 2026): Annex B (sector-wise cumulative equity, April 2000 to June 2026), table I.E (ten largest sectors by year) and table II.B (financial-year equity totals). Its section B heading says “first quarter of financial year 2025-26 (April, 2026 to June, 2026)”; the months show it is 2026-27. Also the fact sheets updated to December 2023 (monthly equity for April–June 2023) and December 2025 (2023-24 sector figures). The July 2023 to June 2026 figures are this blog’s subtraction of the June 2023 open-data table from the June 2026 Annex B, and share its vintage caveats.
About this article: Researched, written and edited by Umashankar Triplicane Dwarakanathan, with AI research assistance; every figure is meant to trace to the primary source cited. See the Editorial Policy for how sourcing, AI use and corrections work.
