Foreign direct investment inflows to India increased by 67.6 per cent year-on-year to $2.38 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal ended September 30.

The FDI statistics, however, included only investments as fresh equity while other components of FDI like reinvested earnings and other capital were excluded, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said addressing the Economic Editors' conference in New Delhi.

Foreign inflows on account of re-invested earnings and other capital would be available at the end of the current financial year, an official release said.

The Reserve Bank of India had put FDI inflows (provisional) for 2003-04 at $4.67 billion.

FDI inflows in the first half of 2003-04 was $1.42 billion, the release added.

Notwithstanding the government's commitment to attract more foreign direct investment, the total actual FDI inflows in the country is only about half of the total proposals approved, according to a study by PHDCCI.

The percentage of cumulative actual inflows of FDI to cumulative total approvals between 1991 till March 2004 is exceptionally low at 51 per cent, it said in a release on Wednesday.

Citing administrative barriers as key impediments for greater FDI inflow, PHDCCI said while the time taken by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for clearance has reduced, most delays take place after FIPB nod.

There was a need for an effective mechanism to improve co-operation and coordination between the Centre and the state governments in granting clearances, it said, adding removing procedural and bureaucratic hurdles, especially at the state level was more important to attract more investment.

The chamber said the FDI inflows, which stood at a mere $97 million in 1990-91, increased to $4.675 billion in 2003-04. Out of this, the share of equity investment was $2.387 billion while reinvested earnings were placed at $1.8 billion.