A census conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed that Mauritius was the largest source of FDI in India, followed by the US and the UK in 2016-17.

The revelation was made in RBI's data on "Census on Foreign Liabilities and Assets of Indian Direct Investment Companies 2016-17".

"Mauritius was the largest source of FDI in India (21.8 per cent share at market value), followed by the USA, the UK, Singapore and Japan," the census report said.

"... Singapore (19.7 per cent) was the major FDI destination, followed by the Netherlands, Mauritius, and the USA."

According to the data, manufacturing sector accounted for nearly half of the total FDI at market prices. Information and communication services, and financial and insurance activities were the other major sectors that attracted FDI.

Over 18,600 companies responded in the census.

"Ninety-six per cent of the responding companies were unlisted in March 2017 and most of them had received only inward FDI; unlisted companies had higher share of FDI equity capital vis-à-vis listed companies," the report said.