India Relaxes Foreign Direct Investment Norms
The Indian Government on January 30th brought major changes to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules, easing existing curbs on overseas capital in such key areas as real estate, petroleum refining, commodity exchanges, mining and aviation.
The decision taken at a meeting of the Cabinet follows a month-long review of the FDI policy, which the government began as part of efforts to boost foreign capital inflows. The review however did not include the politically conscious issue of allowing foreign multi-brand retailers like Wal-Mart and Carrefour to open front-end stores here.
The changes cleared by the cabinet included increasing the limit of FDI to 100 percent for titanium mining and aircraft maintenance companies from 49 percent to 74 percent in cargo and chartered airlines, from 26 percent to 49 percent in public sector refining companies.
