Govt plans new mechanism to handhold foreign investors

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is in the process of setting up a new mechanism to handhold foreign investors and help them set up facilities in India. According to DPIIT Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra, the proposal is being sent to the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal for approval, and is expected to be operationalised as early as November. The department will fund the programme.

"Very soon we will be announcing it. Within Invest India, another format in which we actually do hand-holding," he said on Monday, adding that the mechanism will help in all approvals and clearances that a company requires to set up a plant in a state or district or town. Invest India is the national investment promotion and facilitation agency under the DPIIT and acts as the first point of reference for foreign investors in the country.

So basically, any overseas investor looking to invest $500 million or more in India will have a designated person akin to a relationship manager, who will facilitate all clearances, the Times of India reported. Many investors in the past have complained of a plethora of clearances holding up their plans. In a recent letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon pointed out that Walmart requires more than 45 permits and three years to open a new Best Price store in India.

In pitching this idea, Mohapatra, who hails from the Gujarat cadre, has drawn upon the state's experience during Modi's term where investment proposals were cleared quickly and facilitated by iNDEXTb, the state investment promotion body. Invest India is currently scouting for space, where officials from several ministries, including tax and environment and forest, will be present to address investment queries. State governments, too, will depute officers at the facility.

Meanwhile, the Modi government has already constituted a working group on the proposed new industrial policy, which is aimed at reducing regulatory hurdles, promoting emerging sectors and making India a manufacturing hub.

With PTI inputs