RBI eases FDI norms to allow foreign investors exit

 
Relaxing foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday gave foreign investors an decision to way out their savings by selling their property of justice or arrears.

"It is probable that this leisure will make easy better FDI flows into the realm," the RBI said in a declaration.

According to the customized norms, FDI contracts can now have optionality clauses, which allows investors to exit, topic to the environment of least amount lock-in age and devoid of any secure proceeds.

Until now, only justice shares or forcibly and mandatorily translatable partiality shares or debentures could be issued to persons tenant external India under the FDI policy and these instruments were not permissible to have any optionality section, the RBI said.

FDI in India declined by about 15 per cent to $12.6 billion (Rs 74,971 crore) in April-October. According to the branch of manufacturing strategy and endorsement, FDI in the same epoch a year previous was $14.78 billion.

Food meting out industries established $2.14 billion, army $1.36 billion, pharmaceuticals $1.08 billion, sedan $784 million and edifice expansion $699 million.

In a break up announcement, the RBI said banks may comprise a close NRI next of kin as a dual proprietor in an personage resident's accessible or new bank report on an "moreover or survivor" basis.

Such financial records will be treated as dweller bank balance sheet for all purposes and all system pertinent to a dweller bank description will be related.

Cheques, instruments, remittances, cash, card or any other earnings belonging to the NRI close qualified will not be entitled for acclaim to this report, it said.

Such joint version container ability may be extensive to all types of dweller accounts, as well as reserves bank balance sheet, it further.

Cabinet likely to decide on FDI in pharma, housing today

 
New Delhi: With serious concerns being raised from various departments regarding the acquisition of Indian drug firms by global multinational entities, the government is likely to consider reducing the foreign direct investment cap in the pharma sector.

According to reports, the Cabinet is likely to take up the decision Monday to reduce the FDI cap in critical areas of the pharma sector to 49 percent.

Led by DIPP, several departments have raised concern about the continuous acquisition of Indian drug firms by foreign firms.

The Cabinet is also expected to relax FDI norms in the housing sector.

"The Cabinet will review the FDI policy in pharmaceutical and housing tomorrow (Monday)," an official said on Sunday.

With the current FDI cap in pharma sector at 100 percent, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has proposed to reduce it to 49 percent in the "rare or critical pharma verticals".

FDI inflow up by 12% to $1.65 bn in July

 
New Delhi: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India grew by 12 percent year-on-year to USD 1.65 billion in July, highest since April.

In July 2012, the country had received FDI worth USD 1.47 billion.

In April, the first month of the current financial year, the inflows stood at USD 2.32 billion, according to the data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

During the April-July period, FDI has grown by 20 percent to USD 7.05 billion, from USD 5.90 billion in the same period last fiscal, the data said.

The sectors that received large inflows during the first four months of the 2013-14 fiscal include services (USD 1.02 billion), pharmaceuticals (USD 1 billion), automobile industry (USD 637 million) and construction (USD 359 million).

The maximum FDI during the period came from Singapore (USD 2.21 billion), followed by Mauritius (USD 1.85 billion), the Netherlands (USD 520 million), Germany (USD 518 million), and the US (USD 371 million).

A DIPP official said that the recent steps announced by the government would further help in attracting FDI inflows and improving the investment environment.

The government has liberalised FDI policy in as many as 12 sectors which include telecom, tea and petroleum and natural gas.

FDI inflows in 2012-13 aggregated USD 22.42 billion, a decline from USD 36.50 billion in 2011-12.

India is estimated to require about USD 1 trillion between 2012-13 and 2016-17, the 12th Five Year Plan period, to fund infrastructure growth covering sectors such as ports, airports and highways.

Overall, an increase in FDI will help support the rupee, which depreciated to a record low of 68.8 against the US dollar on August 28. It has strengthened since then to 63 level.