|
Government of India has put in place a liberal Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy and most items/activities for investment up to 100% fall under the Automatic Route except for a few categories where Government approval through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) shall be necessary.
To make the environment more attractive, Government has on September 29, 2004 further simplified the FDI approval procedure by placing the following on the automatic route:-
(i) Transfer of shares from resident to non-resident (including transfer of subscribers’ shares to non-residents) other than in financial services sector provided the investment is covered under automatic route, falls within the sectoral cap and also complies with prescribed pricing guidelines.
(ii) Conversion of ECB/Loan into equity provided the activity of the company is covered under automatic route, the foreign equity after such conversion falls within the sectoral cap and also complies with prescribed pricing guidelines.
(iii) Cases of increase in foreign equity participation by fresh issue of shares as well as conversion of preference shares into equity capital provided such increase falls within the sectoral cap in the relevant sectors, are within the automatic route and also complies with prescribed pricing guidelines.
The FDI Policy does not envisage State specific guidelines. FDI approvals granted for investment in West Bengal amounted to Rs. 325.01 crores for 2002-03, Rs.339.45 crores for 2003-04 and Rs. 84.08 crores during April-December 2004.
This information was given by Shri S.S. Palanimanickam, Minister of State for Finance in reply to a question by Shri Hiten Barman in Lok Sabha today.
BSC/BY/GN-143/05
|
