The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will share FDI-related information with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) — to check black money from entering the country.
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The decision was taken during a recent meeting of a government group, headed by Revenue Secretary, to check economic crimes. The move comes after Cabinet Secretariat expressed concern over companies in tax havens investing in the country, official sources said.
The Cabinet Secretariat suggested that Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) under the Finance Ministry should maintain a database of such entities and investments, a move which was later rejected, they said.
During the meeting of “Working Group on Intelligence Apparatus”, representatives of the IB felt that it is important to have the information. It was decided that the RBI should share with the IB and Cabinet Secretariat, information on FDI, which actually enters the country, the sources said.
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The FDI comes either through automatic route (which gets recorded by RBI) or through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which is responsible for processing of FDI proposals and making recommendations for government approval.
“Even after FIPB has approved a FDI proposal, concerned government agencies will not know whether the investment has actually come into India. The only organisation, which will know when the investment actually comes into the country, is RBI.
“Hence, it was felt that they should form a database on it and share details with both IB and RAW,” said a senior official in the Cabinet Secretariat, requesting anonymity.
The RBI has also been asked to consider displaying this information on its website, he said.