Foreign direct investment

A foreign direct investment (FDI) refers to purchase of an asset in another country, such that it gives direct control to the purchaser over the asset (e.g. purchase of land and building). In other words, it is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business, in real estate or in productive assets such as factories in one country by an entity based in another country.^[1] It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment or foreign indirect investment by a notion of direct control.

The origin of the investment does not impact the definition, as an FDI: the investment may be made either "inorganically" by buying a company in the target country or "organically" by expanding the operations of an existing business in that country.