New Delhi, June 17 -- India's foreign direct investment (FDI) data for 2025-26 contains two facts that ought to be read together but rarely are.

Gross FDI inflows touched a record $94.53 billion, up 17%. Net FDI-what India retained after foreign firms repatriated and Indian companies invested abroad-was just $7.65 billion. Eight cents of every gross dollar, the lowest retention ratio in the available data.

This is not the result of one bad year. Five unbroken years of decline have brought it about. The headline now flatters the underlying reality by a margin that can no longer be dismissed.







If the trend has been visible in the annual series for five years, March 2026 made it visible in a single month. The Reserve Bank of India's ...