AbstractFor the past two decades the major industrialising world of emerging markets has been playing a significant role in global economic and business development. These economies are indeed abundant in resources particularly human resources, but lag much behind of developed world in terms of financial capital. Hence, they have to find overseas market as a prime source of their capital and are strategically oriented towards attracting such foreign capital. However, global investor’s pays more concern on economic and financial growth conditions prevailing their target markets. This study examines the causal relations between FDI inflows and economic growth in 17 emerging economies under a panel regression framework. The study covers a period of 14 years from 2003 to 2016 under the impression of covering distinct phases of economic cycle. The study found bilateral causality between FDI and economic growth in emerging market settings. GDP of emerging markets are significantly influenced by the FDI inflows and the observation is true with regard to all types of FDI modes. About 70 percent of economic growth in emerging markets is effected by their Greenfield FDI receipts. Hence, regulators in emerging markets should make measures to encourage FDI for their continued growth and development.