Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
Foreign direct investment in India dipped by about 47 per cent to $2.1 billion in May due to the global recession and the trend is likely to continue for some more months, a senior government official said on Monday.
Before leaving on a 10-day foreign visit starting Monday, Sharma said he would address concerns of foreign retail sector investors and ensure help in setting up stores.
The government has asked industry to provide a list of Chinese suppliers that would like to shift some capacity to India provided they are willing to set up JVs with Indian companies.
The Union ministry of agriculture and the department of land resources under the ministry of rural development have given "in principle approval" to a proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) to invite FDI for developing non-arable land through better technology into fertile and cultivable land.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board seems to have laid to rest the controversy surrounding FDI investments routed via Mauritius.
The committee of secretaries (CoS) looking into the issue of allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail segment is likely to meet this Friday to try for more agreement on the issue.
With economic recovery in the rich countries, especially European nations, remaining fragile, FDI inflows to India plunged by 48 per cent to $1.04 billion in January over the same period last year.
The group proposes to invest Rs 10,500 crore in single-brand retail trading in India through a 100 per cent subsidiary.
India Inc has expressed strong displeasure over the Delhi government's decision to withdraw approval to FDI in multi-brand retail, saying the move was likely to hinder foreign investments flowing into the country.
In 2011-12, 2010-11 and 2009-10, the sector attracted FDI worth $1.99 billion, $1.66 billion and $2.55 billion respectively.
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Meanwhile, Parekh and Ganguly make a strong and compelling case for FDI in retail. Read on
The Railway Minister has announced that there is an urgency to attract FDI in Railway projects.
Asserting that there is no compulsion for implementing FDI in retail and states are free to decide on it, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday urged all political parties to vote against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Chaturvedi said the highest ever FDI flows received by the country were in FY12 at $35.12 billion while in four months of this fiscal alone we have crossed $10.75 billion.
During November, FDI flows into China, the largest recipient of foreign investment through this route, fell for the 10th time in 11 months, as labour costs rose and an economic slowdown dragged growth down for seven quarters in a row.
The FIPB, headed by Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram, discussed 30 foreign direct investment proposals, including 10 from pharma sector.
Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar on Thursday said 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom would not be possible before the 2G auction.
The government on Wednesday cleared the long-discussed proposal to hike foreign direct investment limit in the telecom sector to 74 per cent from the current 49 per cent, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said after Cabinet meeting.
The Finance Ministry further said decision on seven FDI proposals has been deferred.
The highest FDI came in services ($2.18 billion), followed by automobiles ($1.28 billion), pharmaceuticals ($1.27 billion) and construction development ($1.05 billion) in the 11 months of 2013-14.
Breaking his silence on FDI in multi-brand retail, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief M Karunanidhi on Monday said his party will not support the Centre's decision to allow foreign investment in the sector.
Opposing FDI in the retail sector, activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday said the move would lead to enslavement of the countrymen and will not benefit the farmers as claimed by the government.
India's current account deficit narrowed to $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP in the January-March quarter of FY23, mainly due to moderation in the trade deficit and a robust increase in services exports, RBI data showed on Tuesday. However, for the 2022-23 fiscal, the current account balance recorded a deficit of 2 per cent of GDP compared to 1.2 per cent in 2021-22. "India's current account deficit (CAD) decreased to $1.3 billion (0.2 per cent of GDP) in Q4:2022-23 from $16.8 billion (2.0 per cent of GDP) in Q3:2022-231, and $13.4 billion (1.6 per cent of GDP) a year ago [Q4:2021-22]," as per the RBI's 'Developments in India's Balance of Payments during the Fourth Quarter (January-March) of 2022-23'.
Sources said in order to address the security concerns, FDI proposals from Pakistan would be routed through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
The Congress on Saturday saw "no crisis" over the opposition of it allies like Trinamool Congress to the FDI in retail and said that the party was fully behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
India is now a biz friendly nations, say Arun Jaitley.
Prominent e-commerce marketplace players include Amazon.in, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Shopclues and Jabong
Even as the Centre is working overtime to roll out FDI in retail while the real decision might rest with the states, Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors, often referred to as the poster boy of the Indian retail sector, said the so-called big-ticket measure was "not the most important thing"for the sector.
Between 2004-05 and 2007-08, FDI in services leapfrogged to $6.61 billion from $444 million, an official statement said. The real estate sector which was thrown open in 2004-05 saw the FDI picking up slowly in the initial two years, but grew substantially in 2007-08 to $2.17 billion.
A leading economic think-tank on Thursday advocated allowing foreign direct investment of upto 49 per cent in the retail sector.
The move comes in the backdrop of a slowdown in the foreign direct investments and its impact on the current account deficit.
Foreign direct investment inflows to India increased by 67.6 per cent year-on-year to $2.38 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal ended September 30.
Inter-ministerial body Telecom Commission on Tuesday approved hiking foreign direct investment limit in the sector from 74 per cent to 100 per cent.
The department of telecom will issue guidelines on raising the foreign direct investment limit to 74 per cent from 49 per cent next week.
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