The Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIF) has disposed off as many as 853 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals in the last five years of its existence.
FIF was formed after the Union Cabinet had on May 24, 2017, cleared the proposal of doing away with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
After FIPB’s abolition, the concerned ministries and departments as well as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT, under the Commerce Ministry) were entrusted with the responsibility of granting approval for foreign investment under the FDI policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regulations.
Subsequently, FDI proposals were required to be filed only on FIF portal, which is managed by DPIIT.
These proposals are also sent to the concerned administrative ministry and simultaneously to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and External Affairs Ministry (for seeking comments) as well as the Home Ministry (for necessary security clearance).
Commerce Ministry sources said that since the formation of FIF portal, FDI inflow in the country has gone up. In 2014-15, FDI inflow in India had stood at $45.15 billion, which has now gone up to $83.57 billion during 2021-22, despite the Coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
During 2021-22, foreign investment inflow was reported from 101 countries, whereas it was reported from 97 countries in 2020-21. (Source: NDTV)
