End of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)

India has a very well formulated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy. FDI is channelled into India subjected to entry regulations. FDI entry can be made under two categories - Approval route and Automatic route. The FDI Policy, Press Notes and other related notified guidelines formulated by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Reserve Bank of India are the bases of the FDI investments in India. For evaluating proposals under approval route the government formulated the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). FDI proposals above Rs.5000 crore are taken care of by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), housed in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, an inter-ministerial body, has been responsible for processing of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals and making recommendations for Government approval. FIPB has been the single window for allowing foreign direct investments (FDI) that falls under approval route since 1990s.

Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley had announced in his budget speech in the Union Budget for the financial year 2017-18 that the FIPB would be dismantled. He said, "We have now reached a stage where the FIPB can be phased out. We have decided to abolish it in 2017-18".

The FIPB's powers had been systematically depleted under the current regime of government. For example, in June 2016, the government had announced relaxed FDI norms in single-brand retail, civil aviation, airports, pharmaceuticals, animal husbandry and food products.

As a further bold step towards 'Maximum Governance and Minimum Government' FIPB has been abolished by the government with effect from 5th June, 2017. Subsequent to the abolition of the FIPB, the work of granting government approval for foreign investment under the extant FDI Policy and FEMA Regulations, shall be entrusted to the concerned Administrative Ministries/Department. ln February 2015, Government had launched a new user friendly and secured website i.e. fipb.gov.in. Since then, all applications for seeking approval of the Government are being filed through this online portal. Subsequent to abolition of the FIPB, the management and responsibility for running the website shall be that of the DIPP. The administrative Ministries/Departments shall be granted access to the online portal from where they can download and process their respective applications.

In result of the abolishment, the 11 notified sectors will be granted approval by their respective ministries/departments.

With the abolishment of FIPB, the functional and regulatory responsibilities in relation to the applications requiring approval of the government are transferred to DIPP or the concerned Administrative Ministry/Department as the case may be.

The following lists of applications requiring the approval of the government along with the concerned ministry having authority to deal with the proposals are as under: -

• ln respect of the applications in which there is a doubt about the Administrative Ministry concerned, the DIPP shall identify the Administrative Ministry/Department where the application will be processed.
• The applications requiring approval of the government shall continue to be received by the existing FIPB portal which shall be transferred to DIPP from the Department of Economic Affairs within four weeks. On receiving the application the concerned ministry/department shall process the said application.
• The Government has planned to develop a Standard Operating System (SOP) with detailed guidelines laid down by the DIPP. SOP shall guide the respective Administrative Ministries/Departments/Sector regulators regarding the processing of FDI approvals.
• The main objective behind creating SOP is to adopt a uniform and consistent process. The SOP shall involve the process of Inter-Ministerial consultations wherever necessary. It shall also recognize the ordinary FDI applications, including those related to NRI, EOU, SBRT, and MBRT which should be decided in sixty days.
• The concurrence of DIPP is made mandatory in cases where the concerned authority has rejected the application or has granted permission subject to additional conditions. The respective Administrative Ministries/Departments are burdened with an additional duty to monitor compliance of conditions under the FDI approvals including the past cases where approval was granted by FIPB.
• The 4500 files which are currently held by the FIPB secretariat are of permanent nature and shall be transferred to the concerned Ministry. All present, past and future cases in relation to approvals of FDI shall be handled by the respective Administrative Ministries/ Departments. The RTI applications pending with the FIPB secretariat shall be transferred to the concerned Administrative Ministry/Department. All applications pending with the FIPB portal as on the date of abolition of FIPB shall be transferred to the respective Administrative Ministry/Department by the DlPP immediately upon receipt thereof.

It is very good and bold move by the Government. Most of the sectors have already been liberalized to come through the "automatic" route, without needing FIPB clearance. This should bring in more FDI in India. There is certainly an ignited ray of hope that India will become more attractive place for Foreign Investment and it will attract more inflow of FDI.