Feb. 15 – India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is now allowed to approve foreign direct investment proposals worth as much as US$258.7 million.

This is a major procedural change  and will streamline the FDI process and lessen the burden for Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA); the agency previously required to approve proposals amounting to more than US$1,297,411. Now only projects worth than US$ 258.7 million will need to apply for CCEA approval.

Projects that already submitted proposals  to the FIPB or CCEA will not need to renew the approval. On the change, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told Business Standard: “It has been done to relax some of the FDI norms. Our FDI inflows had been robust even during the global economic slowdown and this step will augment growth in the flows further…. It is quite likely that the inflows this year would exceed those received during last financial year.”

Foreign direct inflows to India amounted to US$20.92 billion for April-December last year compared to US$21.15 billion during the same period in 2008.