NEW DELHI: The foreign investment facilitation portal, which was launched in June 2017 following the abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), has disposed of 853 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals in the last five year, according to government data.
“Eight hundred and fifty three FDI proposals have been disposed of through the Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIF) since the abolishment of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB),” the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.
The proposal for abolition of FIPB was approved by the Union Cabinet in its meeting on May 24, 2017. Subsequent to the abolition of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), granting of government approval for foreign investment under the extant FDI Policy and FEMA Regulations was entrusted to the concerned Administrative ministries/departments and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, was made the nodal department.
The FDI proposals were thereafter required to be filed only on Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIF Portal), which is managed by DPIIT.
The proposals filed on the portal are forwarded to the ministry concerned and are also simultaneously marked to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for comments and to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for necessary security clearance, wherever required, as per the FDI Policy/ FEM Regulations.
A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for processing of FDI proposals, including documents to be filed, through FIF Portal was framed and laid down by DPIIT on June 29, 2017 with amendment on January 9, 2020. Since then, not only has FDI increased, so has the number of countries bringing in FDI into India.
In FY 2014-15, FDI inflow in India stood at mere $45.15 billion, which increased to $60.22 billion in 2016-17 and further to the highest ever annual FDI inflow of $83.57 billion reported during the FY 2021-22 despite Covid-19 pandemic and recent Russia-Ukraine conflict.
During FY 2021-22, FDI has been reported from 101 countries, whereas, it was reported from 97 countries during the previous financial year (2020-21). (ANI)