India to Allow 100 Per Cent FDI In Single-Brand Retail

By Shakir Husain NEW DELHI, Jan 10 (Bernama) -- The Indian government will allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail as it tries to bolster inflow of funds from abroad. A cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to a number of changes in the FDI policy, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. The new rules will permit 100 per cent FDI under automatic route for single-brand retail trading. Under the existing policy, 49 per cent FDI was allowed in single-brand retail under the automatic route and beyond that through government approval. "It has now been decided to permit 100 per cent FDI under automatic route for SBRT (single-brand retail trading)," the government statement said. India hopes the liberalised policy would increase the ease of doing business and bring in larger FDI, which amounted to US$60 billion (US$1=RM4.012) between April 2016 and March 2017. The government also announced that it would allow foreign airlines to own up to 49 per cent stake in state-owned Air India, which is being offered for privatisation. The earlier FDI policy allowed foreign carriers to own up to 49 per cent equity in an Indian airline under the government approval route, but the national airline was not open to foreign ownership. The government statement said, "it has now been decided to do away with this restriction" and allow foreign airlines to invest up to 49 per cent under the approval route in Air India. India is likely to seek expression of interest from potential buyers of loss-making Air India after the national budget presentation on Feb 1, according to local media reports. -- BERNAMA