As many as 1,173 joint ventures were given approval with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from April 2004 to August 2007, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday, reports UNI from New Delhi.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Ashwani Kumar said 1,173 approved projects entailed a total investment of US$7,476.47 million. The highest of 767 projects were given approval during 2004-05. Companies in as many as 60  countries were given approvals for FDI joint venture during April 2004-August 2007.

Out of this, US tops the list with 210 projects, followed by  Mauritius (85), the UK (59), Singapore (51), Germany (36) and the UAE (34). A total of 45 Non Resident Indians (NRI) were given approvals for FDI  joint venture with a total turnover of US$ 1,096.98 million , Mr Kumar said.