Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replying to a query in the parliament has informed that, as many as 19 proposals with an estimated investment of Rs 30,552.45 crore are under the consideration of the government. She said that “There are 19 proposals of big investments, each in excess of Rs 100 crore under consideration of government.”
It was further elaborated that proposals for big investments under the government consideration pertains to sectors such as pharmaceuticals, information & broadcasting, insurance, non-banking finance companies and private banks.
Separately, the minister said that Centre has undertaken a number of steps to improve ease of doing business in India and the ministries and state governments have been advised to simplify and rationalize the regulatory environment through business process reengineering and use of information technology amongst the other important steps. Further she said that, as FDI is largely a matter of private business decisions, global investors normally take time to assess a new policy and its implications in the context of a particular market before making investment.
The minister said in the light of the importance of foreign direct investments for economic growth and development, the government announced key FDI reforms in the defence and railways sectors. The entire range of rail infrastructure was opened to 100 percent FDI under the automatic route, and in defence, sectoral cap was raised to 49 percent.