Scheduled meetings of various Groups of Ministers have been postponed for the foreseeable future as key ministers in the United Progressive Alliance government turn their attention to political assignments for the Assembly polls in six states.
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.
Foreign Trade Policy: More incentives for exports, focus on ease of trading
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion secretary Ajay Shankar told PTI, "India is emerging as a globally competitive manufacturing hub for small fuel efficient cars." Shankar, who was in London to interact with the UK-India Business Council and the India Business Forum, said, though, export-oriented small and medium enterprises have been severely hit, 'fortunately the auto-sector in India has revived.'
Obstacles in development of SEZs will be removed.
The government on Friday said it has started implementing liberal FDI rules under which proposals up to Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) foreign equity would be cleared by the Finance Minister without seeking approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Foreign investment cannot enter India through a circuitous route in sectors like multi-brand retail, atomic energy and the lottery business and will need to operate within the sectoral caps, according to new guidelines.
With a growing penetration of the Internet, which reaches to rural areas of the country, the retailers would be able to deepen their market
Cement makers have agreed to hold prices for a year, but refused to roll back the recent price hike, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Friday.
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.
ICICI Bank has asked the government not to take into account overseas securities like ADR and GDR when deciding on whether a bank is Indian or foreign.
The central bank may classify them as foreign-owned Indian banks.
Financial details of the project, awarded by the department of industrial policy and promotion, were not disclosed. The eBiz Project announced on Tuesday is among the 27 central, state and integrated mission mode projects under the National e-Governance Plan of the Department of Information Technology. Under it, Infosys will also do training, workshops, promotion and awareness campaigns.
The state is planning an event similar to PM Narendra Modi's Startup India.
Move to make investing in sectors with FDI cap easier.
The relaxation will apply to those sectors that have composite caps (foreign direct investment or FDI plus FII). "The move will not impact sectors like banking and insurance which are governed by Acts of Parliament. However, sectors with composite caps which see administrative control like telecommunication services, broadcast services like direct-to-home and FM radio will benefit," a Delhi based FDI policy expert told Business Standard.
Sugar sector is buoyed by high sugar prices, and seeks policies to promote ethanol as green fuel in the ensuing Union Budget 2010-11.
The finance ministry is of the view that all interests -- direct and indirect -- should be taken into account and that there should not be any threshold for calculating total effective foreign shareholding in a company.
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.
Former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar on Tuesday approached the Bombay high court, calling their arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a loan fraud case illegal. The high court, however, refused to grant an urgent hearing and directed the Kochhars to mention the matter before the regular bench once it resumes after vacation. A lawyer representing the Kocchars said that no prior sanction, as required under the law, was obtained by the CBI before their arrest.
The government will create an EV Venture Capital Fund, for financial support to start-ups in the segment. The overall aim is to make Tamil Nadu the preferred destination for EVs and component makers.
The inflation rate has been falling at a steady pace, after peaking at 12.83 per cent for the week ended August 16, 2008, mainly due to declining commodity prices. However, on a week-on-week basis, the WPI rose marginally by 0.04 per cent, due to increase in prices of certain articles, including food products like fruit and vegetables, condiments and spices as well as some processed food items.
Delegates of all G20 countries, barring China, arrived in Srinagar on Monday for the third working group meeting on tourism -- a much-anticipated event for which authorities have made extensive security arrangements and spruced up the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
This was part of a set of clarifications issued by DIPP on the norms to be used to treat downstream investments by Indian companies which have foreign equity, termed Press Note 4. Investing company means an Indian one holding only investments in other Indian companies. Foreign owned or controlled means either having foreign ownership in excess of 50 per cent or non-residents having powers to appoint a majority of board members.
Foreign direct investment limit in insurance sector is likely to be hiked to 49 per cent only after the Lok Sabha elections.
The company has pointed at the possibility of fines and financial penalties.
The government has unleashed a slew of reforms to attract greater investments including higher foreign direct investment in defence and opening up the railways infrastructure sector, relaxed labour laws, launched campaigns like the Make in India for re-invigorating manufacturing, Clean India and Digital India, among others.
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.
The wholesale price-based inflation stands at 9.9 per cent in March, but many analysts criticise the compilation of data, saying it includes several items that are no longer in vogue.
RBI has taken a balanced approach in the credit policy considering various developments across the globe and their near term impact.
India is set to attract foreign direct investment of $40 billion in fiscal 2008-09 with overseas investors betting big on the manufacturing sector in the world's second fastest growing economy.
But completion occupancy certificates to be mandatory.
Economists have asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to lower interest rate, rationalise subsidies, remove all cess and surcharge, do away with the retrospective tax amendments and scrap dividend distribution tax to revive investment cycle and promote growth.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and the finance minister were in the commercial capital to participate in a road show organised jointly by the Gujarat government and Confederation of Indian Industry for the Vibrant Gujarat summit, slated for January next year.
The government has amended rules of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), paving the way for up to 20 per cent foreign direct investment in the insurance behemoth LIC. The government is planning to dilute its stake in LIC through the the Initial Public Offering (IPO). LIC in February had filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) before the markets regulator Sebi for the IPO.
The government has put the process of certification of foreign cement manufacturers on a fast track to facilitate import of the building material in the country to meet the growing demand and tame prices.
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