Govt pitches for more investor-friendly policies

Government has already allowed 100% FDI through automatic route in various sectors The Dollar Business Bureau

Government has decided to introduce full fungibility of foreign investment in Banking-Private sector, says Commerce Minister

Towards creating ‘a better ease of doing business’ environment in the country, government is taking more measures to carry out FDI-related reforms and bring in more foreign investments. This was informed by the Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. “The investment commitments, through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows after launch of ‘Make in India’ in September, 2014 has been worked out as $45,682 million for the period between October 2014 – December 2015 (15 months after Make in India initiative launch),” said the Commerce Minister. Taking a walkthrough over FDI reforms so far, the Commerce Minister informed that “100% FDI through automatic route has been permitted in the case of rail projects, manufacturing of medical devices, White Label ATM Operations, completed projects for operation & management of shopping complexes, business centres and townships.” In the case of commodities, the government has also permitted 100% FDI through automatic route in plantation activities involving rubber, cardamom, coffee, among others and duty-free shops located and operated in the customs-bonded areas and marketing of food products. Whereas, 49% FDI under automatic route has been permitted in the defence and insurance sectors, regional air transport services, portfolio investments by Foreign Venture Capital Investors (FVCIs) and in an exclusive case mode for manufacturing and state-of-art technology activities, among others. “The Government has decided to introduce full fungibility of foreign investment in Banking-Private sector. Accordingly, FIIs/FPIs/QFIs, following due procedure, can now invest up to sectoral limit of 74%, provided that there is no change of control and management of the investee company,” the Minister added. To facilitate ways for free flow of foreign investment, the government has also approved investments by NRIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) to be deemed as domestic investment. A special dispensation of NRIs has also been extended to trusts, partnership firms and companies that are incorporated outside India under NRI control and ownership. On the whole, the government has put in place an investor-friendly FDI policy, which will be reviewed on an ongoing basis with a view to making it more investor friendly, the Minister noted.

March 10, 2016 | 04:00pm IST

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The Dollar Business Bureau - Mar 10, 2016 10:34 IST

Govt pitches for more investor-friendly policies

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