Further liberalizing FDI

*Jaitley (with budget bag in hand) along with the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal at Parliament House on February 1, 2017.*

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy liberalization is under consideration.

But he announced the abolition of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), a body that clears investment proposals up to Rs.5,000 crore.

“FIPB has successfully implemented e-filing and online processing of FDI applications. We have now reached a stage where FIPB can be phased out,” he said in Budget 2017-18 presentation on 1 February 2017.

“We have, therefore, decided to abolish the FIPB in the year 2017-18. Our roadmap for the same will be announced in the next few months.

“In the meanwhile, further liberalisation of the FDI policy is under consideration and necessary announcements will be made in due course,” said Jaitley.

FIPB approval was required for investments in sectors that are not under the automatic route. But over 90 per cent of the FDIis coming through automatic route.

Currently, FIPB offers a single window clearance for applications on FDI in India that are under the approval route.

FDI into India increased by 30 per cent to US$21.62 billion during April-September this fiscal. fii-news.com