Economic markets may be in turmoil worldwide, financial institutions may be on the verge of failing, and money hard to come by; yet, India continues to shine as an investment destination.

As per a report released by the ministry of commerce and industry, foreign direct investment (FDI) equity capital inflow during the year 2007-08 till February 2008 has reached a record level of $20.13 billion.

This is the highest FDI into equity in the country during any year, and is up 70 per cent from last year's figures of $11.88 billion. And we haven't considered the inflows in March yet.

What was even more impressive was the contribution made by February inflows in this huge total. This was an unprecedented $5.671 billion, which is more than the total FDI received in any single year since 1991, other than 2006-2007.

In percentage terms, February 2008 received a whopping 712 per cent more FDI than February 2007.