Remaining firm in her party's opposition to the United Progressive Alliance government's decision on FDI in retail, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that her party is not in favour of the government being toppled.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday is believed to have deferred a proposal for hiking foreign investment cap in telecom sector to 74 per cent from the existing 49 per cent.
India was fourth in 2008, in terms of FDI inflows, among developing countries, he said referring to UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2009.
Buoyed by favourable policies, India has emerged as the fourth largest destination in Asia for foreign direct investment, attracting over Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) within the first six months of the current fiscal year.
On the retail FDI issue, a possibility being talked about in the corridors of power is the Congress might withdraw its support to AAP in Delhi.
Foreign direct investment into India is expected to touch $15 billion by the end of the present fiscal, with more overseas firms eyeing good returns from the sub-continent.
The government on Friday cleared 24 FDI proposals valued at Rs 158.82 crore (Rs 1.58 billion), including ICICI Bank's Rs 44.45 crore (Rs 444.5 million) American Depository Shares offering and proposals of Colgate Palmolive and Bausch & Lomb.
Government is planning to allow foreign direct investment in the construction sector, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday.
Sharma proposes to pass on the 'handover note' to his successor, which as per the poll projections is likely to be from Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
The FIPB, headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram, at its meeting on Tuesday considered 35 proposals.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may be right in pushing for FDI in retail because reports have been pouring in, indicating that the economic downturn in India and abroad will worsen in coming weeks. Sheela Bhatt examines the politics behind the government's decision.
Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance on Monday accused the government of allowing foreign direct investment in retail with an aim of distracting and disrupting Parliament that was set to discuss crucial issues of price rise and black money.
India will soon become a favourite destination for foreign investors and will be able to double the foreign direct investment that presently stood at about $4.4 billion, according to one of the architects of the country's financial policies.
The note for consideration of Cabinet will follow a review of the FDI regime in the light of the experiences of the last one year, they said.
The officials say no "concrete move" has yet been taken to take the matter to the Union cabinet for approval after the recommendation of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on July 22 to allow 51 per cent FDI.
The note recommends allowing FDI in domestic firms through the issue of partly-paid up shares and convertible warrants, but with certain riders.
In June 2008, the FDI inflow was USD 2.39 billion. However, the total foreign investment inflows during April-June contracted by over 30 per cent to $7.02 billion over the same quarter of 2008-09.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of "acting" in the interest of United States first in getting the nuclear deal through and then allowing FDI in multi-brand retail and questioned why he did not "turn active in India's interest".
SSTL is the second operator after Vodafone that has approached FIPB for raising FDI limit.
The UPA government hopes the logjam in Parliament over FDI in retail will end on Wednesday with the move to 'hold back' the Cabinet's decision on the issue. But things may not be that simple. Sheela Bhatt reports on the possible scenarios that may emerge.
The healthcare industry on Friday asked the government to revamp the foreign direct investment and capital adequacy norms for health insurance entities to make world-class medical treatment available to Indians and make the country a healthcare hub i
It came down from $1.94 billion in 2009-10 to $1.17 billion the next year and to $1.11 billion in 2011-12.
The government has approved 16 projects envisaging foreign investment worth Rs 1,647 crore (Rs 16.47 billion), while deferring Punj Lloyd's proposals for lack of security clearance.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the government is considering further liberalisation of the country's foreign direct investment policy for attracting investment in the infrastructure sector.
India's commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said that from 2012 the country would be able to attract 50 billion dollars annually.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Thursday kept its cards close to its chest on the issue of a debate in Parliament on FDI in retail, saying the government should first decide under what rule it wanted such a discussion.
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.
India has emerged as one of the most favourable destinations of European and American investors among the Asian nations.
The government on Wednesday said foreign direct investment in retail will not be allowed if it hurts small retailers.
Undeterred by global credit freeze, India maintains a bullish outlook on attracting foreign direct investment which may be governed by easier rules, a top government official said.
The Wall Street major Morgan Stanley has upgraded India to "standout overweight" citing that the relative economic and earnings growth is improving and the macro-stability setup looks sufficient to withstand the higher real rate environment. "India remains standout overweight. "We increase our overweight stance on Indian equities and as our most-preferred emerging market," the brokerage said in a note on Friday.
In its latest lobbying disclosure report filed with the US Senate and the House of Representatives for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, the various lobbying issues of Walmart during the period included 'discussions related to FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in India'.
In big bang reforms, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a relief package for the telecom sector that includes a four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues by telecom companies as well as allowing 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Cabinet, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said nine structural reforms for the telecom sector were approved. The definition of AGR, which had been a major reason for the stress in the sector, has been rationalised by excluding non-telecom revenue of telecom companies.
FDI inflows in the manufacturing sector rose by almost 45 per cent between October last year and this February.
Also the companies should be self-sufficient in product designing and have maintenance and life cycle support facilities.
Total outflow and inflow of foreign investment in general for 2014-15 fiscal was $6.42 bn and $75.71 bn, respectively
The increase in FDI limit in the insurance sector may attract Rs 30,000 crore that the industry requires over the next five years, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has said.
Reflecting slowdown in the economy and erosion of investor confidence, foreign direct investment (FDI) in India has declined by 41 per cent to USD 1.85 billion in April.
For the first time in three years, 2004-05 saw an increase in foreign direct investment into India touching $5.5 billion, while FDI made by Indian companies doubled to $2.5 billion during the last fiscal, FICCI has said.\n\n
