- India: in its report entitled "World Investment Directory 2000. Volume VII: Asia and the Pacific", Unctad welcomes India's dynamism regarding foreign direct investments (FDIs) over the past decade, thanks to the liberalisation of the regulatory structures in the matter. Between the beginning and the end of the 90s, average annual FDI flows multiplied by six, going from $470 million in 1991-1994 to $2.7 bn in 1995-98, with a special mention for 1997, which registered a record $3.6 bn. Whereas a slight slowdown was observed in 1998, initial estimates for 1999 indicate an upturn in the flows. These good performances are due to a series of governmental measures in favour of foreign investments, among which the end of the State monopoly in the insurance sector, the opening up of the banking and manufacturing industries to competition and the selling of the assets of companies in the State-owned sector. In addition, foreign investors may now acquire larger shares in certain projects, the authorised ceiling having been increased from 51 to 74%. The survey also stipulates that: i) in the early 90s, average annual FDI flows attained about half the level of that reached in the Republic of Korea, considered to be one of the most dynamic of the newly industrialising countries. This gap narrowed sharply and the two countries were more or less on the same level in the 1995-1998 period, with India recording average flows of $2.7 bn against the Korean Republic's $3.1 bn; ii) most FDI flows come from developed countries (United Kingdom, United States and Germany) that have participated to the tune of 86% of the total. Of this percentage, 24% comes from the United States; iii) the manufacturing sector is the favoured sector for foreign investors. In 1995, for example, it represented 83% of total FDIs; iv) the 1998 financial crisis slightly affected flows which recorded their first decline in eleven years, nevertheless reaching more than was recorded in 1996.