Govt. vows to bring 97% FDI though automatic route: DIPP

The Dollar Business Bureau 

Government has taken a slew of initiatives to ease investment regulations in the highway sector and the results of these steps would be visible in the near future, says DIPP Secretary Amitab Kant

  The government aims to develop a level of self-governance to bring 97% of foreign direct investment (FDI) through an “automatic” route without requiring any bureaucratic approval, a senior government official said. “Following recent announcement of opening up 15 sectors for which Press Note has been issued today, India has thrown open 92% of the FDI route through automatic channel,” said Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). Inaugurating the 95th Annual Session of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), Kant said the government has taken a slew of initiatives to ease investment regulations in the highway sector and the results of these steps would be visible in the near future.  In a recently released World Bank report, India has moved up 12 places in the ease of doing business index, ranking now 130 out of 189 countries. Referring to some of its impacts, Sinha said contracts worth Rs.3.5 lakh crore have been awarded to the highway sector through different routes like EPC, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has played a key role in allowing banks to sell bad loans in highway sector. The DIPP Secretary underlined the role of states governments in achieving their task of ease of doing business and said there is an excitement among states to improve their rank and they are continuously competing with one another to enhance their industrial ecosystem. “While Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand emerged as the top three states on the Centre’s matrix of 100 points, this year the Centre would be measuring the performance of different states on a scale point of 340,” Kant said. “If 10-12 states decide to move fast, India would create 10-12 Singapore and that would take the country’s GDP to 9-10%,” Kant said. ASSOCHAM President Rana Kapoor, who was also present during the event, said India has done much work in the area of removing the bureaucratic hassles and the country is on a right path in terms of its policy reforms.  

November 25, 2015 |4:25pm IST