This country just muscled out India from No. 1 spot globally

The US has surpassed India to become the top destination for greenfield FDI investment in 2017, says a report. The number of greenfield FDI projects in India during the year fell sharply by 21 per cent to 637, said the fDi Report 2018 compiled by FDI Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times Ltd. India had maintained the numero uno slot in greenfield FDI investment in 2015 and 2016. However, in 2017, the US reclaimed the spot from India, recording USD 87.4 billion of announced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

In the Asia and Pacific region, China was on top in terms of FDI in total number of new projects and capital investment, followed by India, said the fDi report. China received foreign capital investment of USD 50.8 billion in 2017 in greenfield projects, compared to India's USD 25.1 billion. As per the report, China received investments in 681 projects as against 637 in case of India.

Globally in 2017, greenfield FDI weakened with the number of FDI projects declining by 1.1 per cent to 13,200. Capital investment decreased 15.2 per cent to USD 662.6 billion alongside a 9.4 per cent decline in job creation to 1.83 million, it said. "India was replaced by the US as the highest ranked country for FDI by capital investment, with USD 87.4 billion recorded, boosted by major announcements from Foxconn and Saudi Basic Industries to invest billions in single plants. The US was also the highest ranked country for FDI by number of projects, recording 1,627 announcements," the fDi report noted.