E-Paper
New document aims to simplify FDI regime
The government on Thursday set in motion a comprehensive document governing foreign direct investment (FDI) to simplify the clutter built up over decades and consolidate a plethora of rules and norms.
The government on Thursday set in motion a comprehensive document governing foreign direct investment (FDI) to simplify the clutter built up over decades and consolidate a plethora of rules and norms.
The move is aimed at making available all information on FDI policy at one place. A draft has been put out for public comments and will take the shape of an official document in the next fiscal year starting on April 1, 2010.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will be reviewed every six months to make things easier.
“It will lead to simplification of the policy; greater clarity of understanding of foreign investment rules among foreign investors and sector regulators, as also predictability of policy direction,” Sharma told reporters.
India received $1.74 billion ( about Rs 8,000 crore) worth FDI in November, up 60 per cent a year ago.
FDI aggregated to $19.38 billion ( about Rs 89,000 crore) for the April-November period of the current fiscal, a touch lower than $ 19.79 billion ( about Rs 91,000 crore) received last year during the comparable period.
“Increase in FDI flows shows the attractiveness as an investment destination. Now it is time for us to simplify the procedures,” said Amit Mitra, secretary-general of industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
Sharma said the authorities were working on removing the ambiguities surrounding ownership issues of Indian banks in which some Indian banks which had foreign portfolio investments became classified as foreign banks, requiring government intervention to clarify the status.
“A final view to remove any ambiguity will be taken soon,” Sharma said.
The new document aims to address such ambiguities and make it easy for foreign investors to enter the country.
