A Cabinet minister tells Sheela Bhatt that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken a gamble on the FDI in retail issue and insists that the Congress party is with him.
Industry experts say that the government needs to further relax FDI norms to attract investors to the sector.
"We are seriously considering raising the bar further- that means to allow increased FDI," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said at a CII event on Indian luxury market.
China and India continue to rank first and second respectively in the list of 25 most attractive FDI destinations, according to a study conducted by a global strategic management consulting firm.Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Russia ranked among the top 10, the findings of the latest FDI Confidence index, a regular survey of global executives conducted by management consulting firm, A T Kearney, revealed.
Ministerial consultations on, with recognition of the potential, and the need to not classify it under the same rules as for pharmaceuticals.
Indian exporters shipping goods to Israel may face higher insurance premiums and shipping costs due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to experts. Israel witnessed a surprise and unprecedented multifront attack by air, land and sea by the Hamas militant group, which rules the Gaza Strip, in its southern parts on Saturday morning. The International trade experts said the conflict may reduce the profits of domestic exporters but will not impact trade volumes unless war escalates.
India can become a $6.7 trillion economy by 2031, from $3.4 trillion currently, if the country clocks an average growth of 6.7 per cent for 7 years, an S&P Global report said on Thursday. India had clocked a 7.2 per cent GDP growth in 2022-23 fiscal. But a global slowdown and lagged effect of a policy rate hike by RBI could slow down growth to 6 per cent in the current fiscal, S&P Global said in a report titled 'Look Forward: India's Money'.
After declining for two months in a row, foreign direct investment (FDI) in India grew by 8 per cent year-on-year to $2.15 billion in January.
Global funds, according to Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, are now beginning to pay more attention to India with the market now offering 30 companies with a market capitalisation over $25 billion.
"We have close to about 175 press notes circulating... the Industry Ministry has taken a decision to put all of these together in a booklet so that the FDI rules become much simpler for a foreign investor."
Ahead of his meeting with Congress members of Parliament to allay their apprehensions on FDI, Mukherjee met Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence for about 10 minutes, party sources said.
The new Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment Policy, effective from April 1, limits FDI in defence units to 26 per cent. But the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion of the commerce ministry is in favour of raising this limit.
Defence Minister A K Antony expressed his displeasure to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in presence of their Cabinet colleagues on Thursday, for permitting 51% Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail.
Internet shutdowns by law enforcement agencies like the one in Manipur and Punjab cost $1.9 billion to the Indian economy in the first half of 2023, a report said on Thursday. The shutdowns also led to a loss of nearly $118 million in foreign investment and triggered over 21,000 job losses, the global non-profit Internet Society said in its report 'Netloss'. The non-profit arrived at the financial impact of the shutdown going beyond the loss of output and included factors like change in the unemployment rate, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) lost, risks of future shutdowns, population in the working age etc.
Services attracted the most FDI during the first eleven months period of 2015-16.
The BJP-led government may not permit foreign retailers to open mega stores in the country as such a move may adversely impact small traders and farmers, new Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman indicated.
The net FDI for 2006-07 would be around $9 billion, up from $4.7 billion last year, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council said in its update on the country's balance of payments outlook for this fiscal.
Foreign direct investment in the multi-brand retail may be allowed subject to a stiff condition that global retailers will have to invest heavily in the back-end infrastructure like warehousing and cold storage.
The FDI inflows in July 2009 were $3.51 billion. Contrary to smart recovery in the domestic economy and a rebound in exports, overseas investment show a slackening trend in the current fiscal, an official told PTI.
With a view to simplify foreign direct investment process, the government plans to introduce a single FDI document by end-fiscal and is currently discussing the various modalities, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Monday.
Citing security concerns the Home Ministry has opposed hike in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) caps in sectors like aviation and telecom, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Notwithstanding its inability to open multi-brand retail for foreign investment, government on Tuesday notified 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail, paving way for global chains like Adidas, Louis Vuitton and Gucci to have full ownership of their India operations.
Cash-strapped telco Vodafone Idea's proposal for investment of up to Rs 15,000 crore through foreign direct investment (FDI) has been approved by the Union government, according to officials. A top-level group, comprising representatives from the ministries of home affairs, external affairs, finance and commerce and industry, took the decision. The nod, which is an enabling provision, would help the financially-stressed company raise funds to pay up some of its dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR), reduce debts and use the money for operational expenses.
FIPB may be asked to vet downstream projects.
The talks for a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Canada may have taken a pause but will resume once the political row between the two countries is resolved as the pact has economic benefits for both the nations, trade experts and exporters said on Friday. However, they said that India may not hurry for the trade agreement as 60 per cent of New Delhi's exports are already entering Canada at zero duty. Earlier this month, India and Canada paused the negotiations for the agreement due to political reasons.
The department of industrial policy and promotion, nodal agency for FDI policy under the ministry of commerce and industry, seems to have prepared a note for the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs to consider.
"Call it a craze, fever or national interest but HSR is our window to the outside world."
The department of telecom has rejected any suggestion to put 74 per cent foreign direct investment under the automatic route saying it is not feasible on account of national interest.
Maintaining that it was opposed to FDI in retail, the Samajwadi Party on Thursday made it clear it was not keen to 'piggyback' on the Bharatiya Janata Party over its demand for discussion on the issue under a rule that entails voting.
FDI is essentially long-term investments that come with added benefits such as better technology, management and marketing assistance, says the study.
The fDi Personality of the Year awards recognise the political and business leaders around the world who have been the most proactive, dynamic and innovative in securing foreign investment and improving the business environments of their jurisdictions.
The other sectors where inflows have declined include pharmaceuticals ( $680 million).
Analysts say July 23, 2011, was like a red letter day for foreign investors when the Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, recommended opening up the multi-brand retail trade.
The Union ministry of food and consumer affairs proposes to insert a new clause in the fresh discussion note for the Cabinet on allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
The government liberalised FDI policy in sectors, including multi-brand retail, single-brand retail, commodity exchanges, power exchanges, broadcasting, non-banking financial institutions and asset reconstruction companies.
Defending its policy of liberalising foreign direct investment in retail, the government confirmed that it would go ahead with its plan to expand its ambit.
China continues to attract good inflows of foreign direct investment, with $3 trillion of forex reserves.
The decision to increase FDI in single brand retail was taken by the Cabinet on November 24 along with opening the gates for overseas investment in the multi-brand retail.
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