BIPA agreements to promote foreign investment: Sitharaman

In order to promote foreign direct investment, as many as 72 agreements are in force under the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPA), Parliament was informed today.

India has signed 83 BIPA of which 72 are in force currently.

"The salient features of these agreements include assurance of fair and equitable treatment, most favoured nation status, national treatment status and mechanism for dispute resolution," Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman said in written reply in Lok Sabha today.

She also said the government has constituted a working group to review the model text of BIPA so as to incorporate the experiences gained in the working of these agreements over the last 20 years and international best practices.

The minister further said the working group is considering the opinions and reservations expressed by various stakeholders regarding the provisions of the model text.

The working group, comprising of officials from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the Department of Economic Affairs as well as other ministries, has already held meetings to examine the utility of BIPAs.

However, BIPA review talks have been put on hold following arbitration notices from foreign companies to recover investments.

Several global telecom firms, which had lost their 2G licences following a Supreme Court judgement, have slapped notices on the government citing breach of bilateral investment protection pacts.

India has already signed BIPA agreements with countries such as Russia, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. Others are in the process of being enforced.