The Planning Commission has said that the level of FDI inflow is much below the country's potential and the nation needed to attract about $15 billion worth of FDI in the Eleventh Five Year Plan period.
In its draft approach paper of the Eleventh Plan, the Commission pointed out that a direct benefit from global integration was the increased FDI inflow which increased from $3.7 billion in the Ninth Plan to $5.4 billion during the first four years of the Tenth Plan which was below the country's potential.
In 2005-06, the FDI inflow was $8.2 billion and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has indicated that the FDI inflow into the country could be pushed upto $12 billion.
"The National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) stated that the country needs and can absorb three times the amount of FDI it gets. This remains a reasonable target and can be achieved in the Eleventh Plan," the Commission observed in the paper.
The plan panel pointed out that certain grey areas which remained areas of concern would have to be dealt with. The key area was the health sector.
{{/usCountry}}The plan panel pointed out that certain grey areas which remained areas of concern would have to be dealt with. The key area was the health sector.
{{/usCountry}}"In the matter of health also, there are large gaps in the availability of healthcare and in related services such as maternal and childcare, clean drinking water and access to basic sanitation facilities for the mass of our population, especially the poor do not have even minimum basic access," the Commission observed and suggested since healthcare is costly and beyond the reach of the common man, public funding could be a reliable panacea to spread their ambit.