After facing humiliating defeat in the Bihar assembly elections, Narendra Modi government on Tuesday allowed FDI through automatic route in 15 sectors including the railways, construction, insurance, pension, and defence.
Formal announcement in this regard will be made shortly. As many as 15 sectors could be opened up more in one of the biggest review of the foreign investment regime.
The Modi government has been pushing hard to drum up overseas investment, easing FDI regulations in various sectors including the railways, medical devices, insurance, pension, construction and defence.
India got foreign direct investment worth of USD 19.39 billion in the April-June quarter, according to government data, which is 29.5 per cent more than that received in the same period last year.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier that the defeat in Bihar elections will not impact the economic reforms process.
He had added that the government would continue with economic reforms by taking executive actions and also in the Budget, which would be announced in February next year.
On the specific question of the pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, he had hoped that Bihar, which is a consuming state, would support the legislation.
“I don’t see (Bihar election outcome) as a setback to the economy at all. If under Nitish Kumar, Bihar grows and grows well, we have already announced economic package for the state, certainly we are going to help.”
“Our commitment is the states which need to develop more we have to help them more,” Jaitley had said.
