Govt may lift FDI cap in 32 segments

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 21 February 2003, 20:30 IST
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FDI ceiling in 32 industry segments falling under eight broad industry categories are coming up for review before the Group of Ministers (GoM).

NEW DELHI: A leading business daily said that a green signal from the group would lead to the entire manufacturing sector, barring defence and small scale sector, coming under 100 per cent automatic route. Major hike in FDI caps could also be approved for the civil aviation, telecom, insurance, broadcasting, plantations as well as housing sector where FDI is currently banned. The GoM on FDI headed by the Finance and Company Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, is scheduled to meet tomorrow to consider the proposals. If the group approves these recommendations, these are likely to be part of the Budget announcements. The sectors where 100 per cent FDI is proposed to be allowed, including the automatic and FIPB route, are airports, petroleum refining and oil marketing, private banking, NBFCs, exploration of precious stones and petroleum exploration, mining, coal washeries and radio paging. The recommendations, made by the Steering Committee on FDI constituted by the Planning Commission for formulation of the Tenth Plan, also include 100 per cent FDI for individual housing and building to be routed through the FIPB. Apart from removing the FDI limits, most of these sectors will now be put under the automatic approval mechanism provided by the Reserve Bank of India instead of the present FIPB route.