The government on Tuesday announced reforms in foreign direct investment (FDI) across sectors such as agriculture, mining, defence, broadcasting, civil aviation, single-brand retail and private sector banking.
In a press release, the government explained that this move was to “boost the entire investment environment and to bring in foreign investments in the country.”
“The crux of these reforms is to further ease, rationalise and simplify the process of foreign investments in the country, and to put more FDI proposals on automatic route instead of Government route,” the statement said.
To improve ease of business, the potential investors will have access to a booklet of all instructions and notices. “Along with these sectoral reforms, DIPP has also been advised to consolidate all FDI related instructions contained in various notifications and press notes and prepare a booklet so that the investors don't have to refer to several documents of different timeframes,” the release stated.
Below is the entire list of sectors which have undergone FDI reforms:
i. Limited Liability Partnerships, downstream investment and approval conditions.
ii. Investment by companies owned and controlled by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)
iii. Establishment and transfer of ownership and control of Indian companies
iv. Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
v. Plantation
vi. Mining and mineral separation of titanium bearing minerals and ores, its value addition and integrated activities
vii. Defence
viii. Broadcasting Sector
ix. Civil Aviation
x. Increase of sectoral cap
xi. Construction development sector
xii. Cash and Carry Wholesale Trading / Wholesale Trading (including sourcing from MSEs)
xiii. Single Brand Retail Trading and Duty free shops
xiv. Banking-Private Sector; and
xv. Manufacturing Sector
