Govt Releases New Edition Of FDI Policy Document

On Wednesday, the Commerce and Industry Ministry released the next edition of its consolidated foreign direct investment (FDI) policy document, incorporating all the changes made over the past year.

The new circular released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) comes into effect from 15 October.

The consolidated policy is a compilation of various decisions taken by the government with regard to FDI in different sectors.

The DPIIT, which deals with FDI related matters, compiles all policies related to foreign investment regime into a single document to make it simple and easy for investors to understand.

Investors would otherwise have to go through various press notes issued by the department, and the RBI regulations to understand the policy.

The whole exercise is aimed at providing an investor-friendly climate to foreign players and, in turn, attract more FDI to boost economic growth and create jobs.

The government has liberalised FDI policy in several sectors, including coal mining, digital news, contract manufacturing and single-brand retail trading.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India has increased by 16 percent year-on-year to $27.1 billion during April-August this year.

The DPIIT has also included the decision wherein the government in April made its prior approval mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share land border with India to curb "opportunistic takeovers" of domestic firms following the COVID-19 pandemic. These countries include China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.

The competent authorities for grant of approval for such foreign investments would be the concerned administrative ministry/department as identified by the DPIIT, according to the circular.

The last FDI circular was released in 2017.