Foreign capital flow in a country can take place either in the form of investment, concessional assistance, foreign aid.
- Foreign Investment includes Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) / Foreign Institutional Investment (FII).
FPI includes the amounts raised by Indian corporate through Euro Equities, Global Depository Receipts (GDR’s), and American Depository Receipts (ADR’s).
- Non-Concessional Assistance mainly includes External Commercial Borrowings (ECB’s), loans from governments of other countries/multilateral agencies on market terms and deposits obtained from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
- Concessional Assistance includes grants and loans obtained at low rates of interest with long maturity periods. Such assistance is generally provided on a bilateral basis or through multilateral agencies like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and International Development Association (IDA) etc.
Grants do not carry any obligation of repayment and are mostly made available to meet some temporary crisis. Foreign Aid can also be received in terms of direct supplies of agricultural commodities or industrial raw materials to overcome temporary shortages in the economy. Foreign Aid may also be given in the form of technical assistance.