India pipped China to emerge as the world's top foreign direct investment (FDI) destination in 2015. The world's third-largest economy received $63 billion during the year, 11.30 percent more than China's $56.6 billion, according to a report by fDi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times.

The number of Indian projects that received FDI increased 8 percent to 697. In comparison, China received $56.6 billion for 789 projects during the year, the report added.

Overall, the Asia-Pacific region received about $302.5 billion, or 45 percent, of all global greenfield investments during the year, FT quoted the report as saying.

The report comes within less than a fortnight of India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), releasing data that showed FDI inflows into the country rose 27.45 percent to $42 billion during the period from April 2015 to February 2016. The data was released on April 11.

China's capital investment plunged 23 percent fall while FDI projects declined 16 percent, according to fDi Intelligence.

The news comes in the backdrop of India being projected as the world's only bright spot in a weak global economy and China's growth slowing to new lows. The Chinese economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015, marking a 25-year low, reported Reuters in January.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected India and China to grow by 7.5 percent and 6.3 percent in the current year's World Economic Outlook (WEO) update, released in January.

It also downgraded global growth forecast to 3.4 percent for 2016 and 3.6 percent for 2017, a cut of 0.2 percentage points for both the years from the October 2015 estimates.

Indian government estimates have pegged the country's financial year 2015-16 growth rate at 7.6 percent, and in the range of 7 to 7.75 percent for the current fiscal.