Govt revises format of bidders from countries sharing border with India

India has revised the format of the application for bidders for public procurement having beneficial ownership in countries which share land borders with the country.

Accordingly, applicants are informed that now one hard copy in the prescribed format is required to be submitted to the Office of Joint Secretary (Public Procurement Division) in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

An office memorandum of the DPIIT stated that as per the revision, bidders have to provide details of manufacturer, service provider, contractor and entity providing transfer of technology (ToT) if they are different from bidder, for security clearance.

They have to share details of sensitive sectors and technologies in cases of ToT arrangement.

Sensitive sectors are categorised into two groups - atomic energy, defence and space, among others are in category-1 while 10 sectors including civil aviation, electronics, agriculture and pharma are in the second one.

Sensitive Technologies, as per the revised format, are Additive Manufacturing like 3D Printing, any technology used for uploading and streaming of data including broadcasting, satellite communication, and equipment having electronics programmable components or autonomous systems such as SCADA Systems.

The details which the bidder has to submit include name of the company and individual who are the beneficial owner of the bidding company, country of registration, details of intermediary companies between the bidder and beneficial owner, and a chart depicting the link between them also need to be submitted along with full name, date of birth, passport and contact details of board of directors.

The format of application for seeking registration for bidders having beneficial ownership in countries which share land borders with India has been revised, it said.

It added that applications submitted in the old permit, prior to this memorandum, would not be required to submit that again.

ToT means dissemination and transfer of all forms of commercially usable knowledge such as transfer of know-how, skills, technical expertise, designs, processes and procedures, trade secrets, which enables the acquirer of such technology to perform activities using the transferred technology independently.

In April 2020, the government made its prior approval mandatory for foreign investments from countries that share a 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.