The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has, with a few caveats, allowed 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in defence and telecom.

The decision, part of a package that not only raised FDI limits in select sectors and eased red tape by allowing more investments through the automatic route, comes at a time when the government is desperate to demonstrate its commitment to economic reforms and improve dollar inflows to shore up the rupee.

The government approved proposals to increase FDI limits in 12 sectors as proposed by the Arvind Mayaram commitee, including crucial ones such as defence and telecom, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said after a meeting of the key ministers concerned at the Prime Minister’s residence.

FDI In India From 2003-40 To 2012-13 Graph Report By IndiaSpend News And Data Journalism

The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) made a presentation and a consensus was reached on the twelve sectors, Sharma said. FDI can come in through the automatic route or after approval by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Read More

Jyothi Shankaran

    Jyothi’s last role was as Senior Editor with the business news channel Bloomberg TV India. He also worked as News Editor at business-standard.com, the online version of the business newspaper Business Standard. Jyothi is a chemical engineer from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar.