New Delhi: India and China are likely to figure distinctly in United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)'s next World Investment Report mainly due to their outstanding performance in wooing foreign investments at a time when global FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) flows are expected to dip by 27 per cent to $ 534 billion in 2002.

"FDI inflows in India is slated to go up from $ 3.4 billion in 2001, which was up by 47 per cent from $ 2.3 billion in 2000," UNCTAD director Karl Sauvant told reporters in New Delhi on November 28, quoting the latest FDI report.

UNCTAD also expects, for the first time, China will outsmart US and attract over 50 billion-dollar FDI in 2002, he said.

"Overall, the possibly drastic decline in FDI in most of the region's economies is unlikely to be offset by an increase in such economies as China and India," the UNCTAD report said.

Indications are that China and India will be highlighted separately in the next World Investment Report to be released in September 2003.

Sauvant, chief author of the report and a director of UNCTAD's division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development, declined to give numbers for India's FDI inflows for 2002.

Even as global economic slowdown is expected to drag the FDI flows in the world by 27 per cent, India stands a good chance in attracting higher FDI with her strong macro-economic fundamentals.

With "not so bad" economic growth and skilled population, besides a vast proportion of people knowing English, UNCTAD is upbeat on India's prospects on FDI inflows.

PTI