Domestic customers will get access to high-quality Swiss products such as watches, chocolates, biscuits, and clocks at lower prices as India will phase out customs duties under its trade pact with the EFTA bloc on these goods over a period of time. India and the four-European nation bloc EFTA signed a trade and economic partnership agreement (TEPA) on Sunday to boost trade and investments between the two regions. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
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.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Budget in the Parliament on Thursday.
China has defended its plan to build the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, assuring that the project will not affect riparian states and safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies. The dam, estimated to cost USD 137 billion, has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh, but Chinese authorities maintain that the project has been thoroughly studied and safeguards are in place. The dam is part of China's efforts to develop clean energy and respond to climate change.
Currently, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in brownfield pharma firms through clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
Domestic traders body CAIT on Thursday claimed that e-commerce major Amazon's plan to acquire Prione Business Services - its joint venture firm with Catamaran - will be a violation of foreign direct investment policy. Amazon has said it will acquire Prione Business Services, subject to requisite regulatory approvals. In August, Amazon and NR Narayana Murthy's Catamaran had announced that they will not continue their joint venture Prione Business Services beyond May 2022.
Minister of State for Commerce and Finance Nirmala Sitaraman, in Mumbai to address election rallies, took time out to talk about the economy, foreign investment and trade facilitation.
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.
The new government's challenge would be to reverse the tide in FDI, boost manufacturing and come up with an e-commerce policy that is fair to all investors.
'He will be remembered more for what he did as finance minister -- as someone who functioned well when the political fallout was taken care of.'
As funding from foreign private equity and venture capital firms is the lifeline for most online retailers, the restriction on foreign direct investment is threatening to block any fresh investment into the sector.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have infused a record Rs 4.6 trillion into Indian equities over the course of Samvat 2080, marking the highest net annual investment in any Samvat to date. This robust domestic inflow has effectively counterbalanced the comparatively subdued investments from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who contributed a net Rs 90,956 crore within the same timeframe. Against this backdrop, the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex indices are on track to achieve their best performance in three Samvat years, despite recent market corrections.
Tightening the norms, the government has done away with automatic approval of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the existing pharmaceutical companies.
Fuelled by the $57.8-billion merger of HDFC twins (HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank), M&A (merger and acquisition) transactions in India touched a record high of $124.2 billion in the first half of 2022-23. Bankers said with several transactions, including the government's stake sale in IDBI Bank and Hindustan Zinc in the pipeline, the ongoing financial year will end up as the best year for M&A activity in the country. Apart from the HDFC transaction, the $6.5-billion acquisition of Holcim stake by the Adani family and L&T's $3.2-billion acquisition of Mindtree added to the record transactions in the first half of FY23.
If it continues to do well economically, develops a large manufacturing sector, gains in technological heft, builds a more capable defence industry, improves its human development indicators, becomes more of a trading nation, and has greater internal cohesion. In short, it is a work in progress, suggests T N Ninan.
In January 2014, the country had received $2.18 billion FDI.
During Abe's tenure, Japan had announced support for a number of major projects. These included the bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, besides allocations for a freight corridor between Mumbai and New Delhi.
Currently 100 per cent FDI is allowed in the sector.
The key sectors that received the maximum foreign investment during the nine months of the fiscal include services, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, chemicals, and the automobile industry.
Finance Ministry meets market participants, wants feedback.
The government would try to minimise layers in FDI ceilings.
Justice Mukta Gupta said the interim protection granted to Prabir Purkayastha will be in force till the next date of hearing, September 2.
After declining for three consecutive quarters, the value of FPI investment in Indian equities rose 8 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $566 billion in the July-September period, according to a Morningstar report on Wednesday. A fast-changing global macroeconomic landscape, sentiments and opportunities that the Indian equity markets have to offer impacted the direction of flows by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs). Through the quarter, the value of the FPI holdings in domestic equities surged by 8 per cent to $566 billion from $523 billion recorded in the previous quarter.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday approved the introduction of a new asset class, designed to offer greater flexibility to fund managers and target investors with a higher risk appetite. The markets regulator also cleared the liberalised Mutual Funds Lite (MF Lite) framework, aimed at fund houses that solely launch passively managed schemes. In another significant move, the board reduced the timeframe for rights issues from the current 317 working days to just 23.
Startup founders need to sit up and think about how not to take stardom for granted and how not to disappoint their fans who have stood in long queues for those precious selfies with popular entrepreneurs, notes Nivedita Mookerji.
Capital markets regulator Sebi has permitted mutual funds to again invest in foreign stocks within the aggregate mandated limit of $7 billion for the industry. This came in the wake of a major correction in global markets that brought down the valuation of international stocks. In January, Sebi had asked mutual fund houses to stop taking fresh subscriptions in schemes investing in overseas stocks. The directive to stop subscription was mainly on account of the mutual fund industry crossing the mandated limit of $7 billion for overseas investments.
China's forex reserves witnessed an increase of $509.7, a 12.8 per cent rise from 2012, People's Bank of China said.
India is estimated to have received FDI of $27.5 billion in 2008-09, up from $24.57 billion in the previous year. Though the cumulative increase for 2008-09 is small, it is considered a positive development, given the fact that the global financial crisis is the worst.
The discrepancy was pointed out by the finance ministry in the light of changes in foreign direct investment norms, as specified in Press Note II issued earlier this year, while considering the company's proposal to raise Rs 708 crore (Rs 7.08 billion) through fully convertible warrants. Prior to the Press Note II, the FDI component in Kingfisher Airline was just 16.45 per cent.
Do you have financial planning or income tax queries? Ask rediffGURU Anil Rego.
Four proposals by foreign firms deferred; half a dozen others waiting in the wings.
Clarity to help operationalise the controversial FDI policy of 2009.
Further stimulus measures are expected in the upcoming Budget where the focus is likely to be on reforms, including some structural measures such as reducing red tape and boosting foreign direct investment. The meeting with industrialists is in the series of discussions that Modi has had during the last couple of weeks to seek suggestions to revive growth.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday criticised the Narendra Modi government over foreign direct investment in defence and railways, claiming a 49 per cent FDI cap in defence "will put a question mark" on the safety and security of the nation.
Even so, whenever a hitherto closed sector has been opened to FDI or the sectoral investment cap has been raised, the move has drawn strong protest. The latest instance is multi-brand retail.
The deadlock over foreign direct investment in the retail sector continues as government officials on Tuesday informed parties opposing FDI that they will discuss their demands with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The capital infusion is expected to bolster its presence in the country by funding its key businesses to take on Indian rival Ola.
Mauritius is back in the news, and as usual not for the right reasons.
The first five days of the fair from November 14-18 are restricted to business visitors.
FIPB panel to meet today, discuss telecom investments.
