The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), in its 189th meeting on March 13, will consider 26 proposals of foreign direct investment (FDI), including Punj Lloyd and Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company. Other FDI proposals that are scheduled to be considered include that of Muthoot Finance (Kerala), Euronet Services India, Asia Net Communication and Srei Infrastructure Finance.
To attract maximum FDI into the country, the government has been liberalizing the foreign investment policy. The government in FY14 Budget has proposed to follow the international practice with regard to defining FDI and foreign institutional investors (FII) to remove the ambiguity in making distinction between the two types of investments. India has allowed FDI in most of the sectors through automatic route, but for certain sensitive sectors, FIPB clearance is required.
For the April-December period of 2012-13, the inflows have declined by about 42 per cent to $16.94 billion. The sectors, which have received large FDI inflows during the nine months of the financial year are services, hotel, tourism, metallurgical, construction and automobiles. India received maximum FDI from Mauritius, followed by Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands and the UK.
