Industry body CII has asked the governments of Delhi and Rajasthan to reconsider their decisions to scrap the FDI policy for multi-brand retail as such investments would help create millions of jobs and benefit consumers.
India has eased foreign direct investment rules for the construction sector, the government said on Wednesday, in an effort to attract more money into the country to build new hotels, housing and townships.
Etihad and Qatar Airways have held informal talks with Kingfisher and SpiceJet to expand their footprints in India.
Since allowing FDI in multi-brand retail has been left to the states, Indian companies may not benefit as foreign investors are wary of the politics.
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.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
The Survey is authored by Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran and his team.
He said the government was targeting to attract Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 1000 billion) as FDI in the next two years and an additional Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) contribution to GDP each year.
The BJP lost 15 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Union ministers have been deployed in all 15, tasked with turning the result around.
Global sentiment has turned very positive for India
$5 mn FDI must come in six months: Govt to construction firms.
Another priority in the first 100 days could be the launch of an e-platform -- Trade Connect -- to help exporters connect with stakeholders of international trade.
The investment limit for foreign entities in Indian stock exchanges will be enhanced from 5 per cent to 15 per cent on par with domestic institutions.
The new Foreign Trade Policy, to be unveiled on April 7, would focus mainly on attracting foreign direct investment and generating employment for the youth.
To boost Make in India in defence production, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said foreign direct investment limit in defence manufacturing will be hiked to 74 per cent from 49 per cent while some weapons and platforms will be banned for imports.
But completion occupancy certificates to be mandatory.
This can mean companies like Apple, Zara can sell in India through wholly-owned subsidiaries
Prices may go up because of higher energy costs, caused by the rise in shipping charges, with commercial vessels taking a longer route to avoid the troubled Red Sea region, the finance ministry said on Monday. Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen are repeatedly attacking ships in the Red Sea. While the global economy is grappling with challenges such as sticky inflation, sluggish growth, and mounting fiscal pressure, India's external sector could face "potential risks" due to the ongoing geopolitical tensions, according to the finance ministry's report on the review of the Indian economy.
Recent easing of restrictions does not address the pain in the sector.
The government, in February, had released the draft national e-commerce policy proposing setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow and also laid out conditions for businesses regarding collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in its draft Cabinet has proposed to further tighten the rules for foreign direct investment in brownfield pharmaceutical sector.
On the face of it, the country attracted FDI worth $22.52 billion between January and September, 2011 against $15.97 billion in the same period last year.
RSS-aligned Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) on Monday expressed disappointment over the government's budget proposals with regard to divestment and foreign direct investment, especially in the insurance sector. The BMS, however, lauded the government for its current efforts on the massive vaccination programme, a special scheme for tea workers in West Bengal and Assam, labour oriented push on infrastructure projects in construction sector and development of five major fishing harbours viz. Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat as hubs for economic activities etc. On other Budget proposals, it said in a statement that "mixing the beautiful concept of Aatmanirbhar Bharat with FDI and disinvestment in the Union Budget is disappointing for the employees".
Trade links with Israel have strengthened in the past few years, even as the value of goods exchanged with Iran has diminished. Iran accounted for $3.9 billion worth of India's exports in the four quarters ending December 2019, compared to $3.6 billion to Israel. However, India's exports to Iran dropped to $1.2 billion as of December 2023, on a rolling four-quarter basis, while exports to Israel grew to $6.1 billion in the same period.
India's plans to relax foreign direct investment (FDI) rules across a broad spectrum of industries have received the final approval from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA).
India attracted an estimated $49 billion FDI in 2019, a 16 per cent increase from the $42 billion recorded in 2018.
'India needs many more job creators, both in manufacturing and services, to make it big.' 'For that, the red carpet must be rolled out fully and for all investors without holding back,' suggests Nivedita Mookerji.
CAIT had last month also filed a petition in National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the Competition Commission of India's decision to approve the deal.
The US replaced Mauritius as the second largest source of foreign direct investment into India during 2020-21 with inflows of $13.82 billion, according to government data. Singapore remained the top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country for the third consecutive fiscal at $17.41 billion. During the last financial year, India attracted $5.64 billion in FDI from Mauritius, according to the data by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
The government on Friday modified FDI policy allowing unlisted companies to directly list on stock exchanges abroad to raise funds for acquisitions or retiring overseas debts, a move which may help India in containing high current account deficit.
Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said India is likely continue to face challenges in raising longer-term growth potential and creating enough jobs for its young population in the absence of higher trade openness. In its report on South Asia sovereigns, Moody's said compared with other South Asian economies, India appears to be in a better position to deepen its integration in global value chains, attract FDI and increase exports. The country has better macroeconomic fundamentals, more stable politics and a more developed export sector.
With the Russia-Ukraine war roiling financial markets globally, the government may defer the mega IPO of LIC and wait for an opportune time to get the maximum value of its holding in the state-owned insurance behemoth, sources said. "It's a full blown war now so we will have to assess the situation for going ahead with the LIC IPO," a government source said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, too, had indicated review of the IPO in view of the evolving geopolitical situation.
The government is expediting visa-related issues to bring technicians to India from any country, not just China, as and when required, to ensure the smooth implementation of the flagship production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing. "If those under the PLI scheme need to get their equipment installed, we try to expedite the ability to get technicians into India from any country, whichever it may be," Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told Business Standard in an interview.
Many industry executives have said the draft e-commerce policy is being perceived as nationalistic but not overly protectionist and it is providing preference to Indian players against foreign companies. This might have an impact on investment by large players such as Walmart and Amazon in the country, said the executives. They said e-commerce was a very small portion of the retail industry and at a nascent stage and did not require heavy hammer regulations. Though the policy talks about being equally applicable to foreign and domestic players, it mentions that foreign direct investment (FDI) takes precedence over the e-commerce policy in any area of overlap.
Also the companies should be self-sufficient in product designing and have maintenance and life cycle support facilities.
Thailand, Indonesia want unconditional access to India's multi-brand retail space.
It also said that there is a need to improve investor confidence about the surrounding ecosystem in the country to attract more FDI inflows.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is critically important for India to become a $5 trillion economy, Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen said while noting that over two-fifths of the 1,200 business leaders surveyed in the US, UK, Japan and Singapore are planning additional or first-time investments in India. Referring to the survey, he said India continues to be "one of the most attractive" FDI destinations. "Despite the COVID-19 destruction, inflows hit a record high last year. "Business leaders, whom Deloitte surveyed, are preparing to make additional and first-time investments in India," Renjen said.
The retail sector seeing a sharp rise in FDI flows is one where the Modi government's policy is not clear and has got a little muddled by its political ideology.
The proposed policy is increasingly becoming an item of negotiation, as the US pushes hard to change India's stance.
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