The Standard Operating Procedure 29 June 2017, was issued by Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, for fast track processing and clearance of Foreign Direct Investment proposals. The time limit for deciding on an FDI proposal has been fixed as 8-10 weeks upon receipt of the final application. This excludes the time taken by applicants to make necessary amendments to proposals as required by the competent authorities. To ensure timely disposal of FDI proposals, periodic review is undertaken by DPIIT with other stakeholder Ministries/Departments.
The following information on FDI was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on 12 July 2019. It clarifies about the present FDI policy and structure in India. The government follows an investor friendly policy to attract foreign investors and to promote FDI.
The policy is reviewed on an ongoing basis by consulting with all stakeholders including apex industry chambers, associations, representatives of industries/groups and other organizations and considering their interests.
As a result, a consistent increase in the FDI inflow can be viewed. From USD Billion 60.22 in the financial year 2016-17, it has climbed to 60.97 Billion in 2017-18 and to 64.38 Billion on 2018-19, and up to April this year, it is 6.95 billion USD.
Except for a small list of few sectors, all other sectors are made open for 100% FDI under the automatic route, for promotion of FDI. In the financial year 2018-19, 94.53% of the FDI equity inflow was received under automatic route. Among the small list of sectors that require government approval, the No. of applications received is steadily declining.
The No. of applications received by DPIIT in the calendar year 2016 were 199, which came down to 122 in 2017 and 117 in 2018. Only 55 applications Were received till June in the year 2019.
The reply letter of the minister of commerce and industry ends on the note that FDI is largely a matter of private business decisions and not of government policy.
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