Skip to main content

PM defers FDI review as FM gets busy with Opposition

By

The government is learnt to have ´´postponed´´a high level meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reviewing issues related to foreign direct investment (FDI) on Friday amidabuzz that the Centre was considering relaxing FDI caps in sectors such as multibrand retail and the print media.
The meeting was called to review the progress of FDI approvals across sectors after the recent abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the road map for alternative mechanisms, as well as matters concerning foreign investors in construction and real estate,asource in the know told Business Standard.
He dismissed as “speculative” any talk on FDI liberalisation in multibrand retail and media.
“There´s no such proposal at this point,” he said.
Since Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was with members of the Opposition ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, beginning Monday, it was decided to postpone the FDI meeting, the source told Business Standard.
However, Union Minister of State for Commerce (independent charge) Nirmala Sitharaman, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek, and Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg met the Prime Minister for one andahalf hours, another source said.
The subject of discussion could not be confirmed.
“No fresh date has been decided yet for the FDI review meeting,” said an official.
In May, the Cabinet approved the abolition of the FIPB, which was, for 25 years, the singlepoint window for clearing FDI proposals requiring government approval.
The body is being replaced byanew mechanism under which the proposals will be approved by the ministries concerned.
Proposals in sensitive sectors will require the home ministry´s approval.
The respective administrative ministries will now start clearing proposals in consultation with the DIPP, which will also issue the standard operating procedure (SOP) for processing applications and decisions of the government under the extant FDI policy.
As for the other issue on the agenda, up to 100 per cent automatic FDI is allowed in construction development projects.
This includes civil projects such as developing townships, and constructing residential/ commercial premises, roads, or bridges.
Also included are hotels, resorts, hospitals, and recreational facilities, among others.
But the government has clarified in the consolidated FDI policy that the real estate business is out of its purview.
The Business Standard, New Delhi, 15th July 2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

By
  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...
Post a Comment
Read more