Change in FDI policy a continuous process: Nath

Senior Cabinet Minister Kamal Nath today said "new things would be thrown up" as the Government fine-tunes the foreign direct investment policy.     

"This is a continuous process and new things would be thrown up as we move on," Nath told reporters here.Earlier, Nath, who held the Commerce and Industry portfolio in the previous government, said the Centre would be ready to remove procedural bottlenecks for foreign investors. However, allowing FDI in multi-brand retail would not be on the immediate agenda, he had said.     

India attracted about $25 billion for April-February 2008-09. The Government had announced changes in the FDI policy in February which led to confusion among investors. With these changes, FDI caps and entry rules became meaningless as investors could enter sectors like retail through circuitous routes.     

On the resumption of talks between Bharti group and MTN for acquisition of a controlling stake in the South African telecom major, Nath said the business cooperation would help improve engagement between India and Africa.     

"We have been devoting South-South cooperation and that has been the cornerstone of the policy." he said.