Most FDI proposals in 3 depts from nations sharing land border with India

Electronics and IT, industry and internal trade, and heavy industries are the three industries

The government has received maximum foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals in three departments -- electronics and IT, industry and internal trade, and heavy industries -- from countries sharing land border with India, an official said.

In April 2020, the government had made its prior approval mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share land border with India to curb opportunistic takeovers of domestic firms following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Countries which share land borders with India are China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Afghanistan. As per that decision, FDI proposals from these countries need government approval for investments in India in any sector.

The major sectors under which these FDI proposals mainly came included manufacturing of heavy machinery, automobile, auto components; computer software and hardware; trading, ecommerce, and manufacturing of light engineering and electrical, the official said.

Besides, these three departments, the ministry of new and renewable energy and department of pharmaceuticals have also received several proposals from these countries, the official added.

Further, pending FDI proposals received under this decision up to June 15 this year in the Ministry of Electronics and IT; Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT); and Ministry of Heavy Industries are over 40.

Most of the foreign investment proposals have come from China and Hong Kong. Besides, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh too have submitted certain applications.

In April this year, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) came out with a press note stating that a company or an individual from a country that shares land border with India can invest in any sector here only after getting government approval.

An inter-ministerial committee has been formed by the government to scrutinise these proposals, they said adding most of the investments are for brownfield projects (means in existing Indian companies).

All administrative ministries and departments have been advised to have dedicated FDI cells to process these proposals expeditiously.

India has received USD 17.6 billion worth of FDI during April-June this fiscal.