Govt looks at eliminating FDI security gaps through scrutiny measures

Foreign investment in strategic sectors main worry

Concerned over rising foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into strategic sectors like telecom as well as information technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) through the automatic route, the government is considering eliminating the security gaps through a stringent scrutiny mechanism.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has proposed an online filing of advance foreign investment returns on the Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIFP), which will be accessible to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Ministry of Home Affairs and other security agencies. 

The government is worried that a transfer of data from India, through IT investment, may