The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion on Friday said the third edition of its consolidated FDI policy document will be released on March 31 to incorporate changes made in the regulations over the past six months.
“The next edition of the consolidated FDI Policy circular - Circular 1 of 2011 - will be issued on March 31, 2011, which will incorporate all the changes effected in FDI policy post-issue of Circular 2 of (September) 2010,” the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said.
The DIPP is the nodal agency on FDI policy.
With a view to make the country’s FDI regime simple and easy to understand for investors, the DIPP -- which is under the Commerce and Industry Ministry -- had compiled all the related policies into a single document.
Earlier, one had to go through various press notes issued by the industry department and RBI regulations to understand the FDI policy.
While releasing the first edition in April last year, the government had said the document will be updated every six months.
The DIPP has invited public comments on the document till February 15, 2011.
Foreign direct investment is considered crucial for economic development of a country and India has taken several steps to attract such funds.
Among other things, the DIPP -- in association with industry chamber FICCI -- has floated ‘Invest India’, a company to facilitate foreign investment.
However, due to the sluggish growth of western economies, FDI inflows dipped by 27 per cent to USD 17.36 billion in the first 10 months of 2010 from USD 27.83 billion in the year-ago period.
