NEW DELHI: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared Rs 13,030 crore worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals on Friday. The cleared plans included that of hiking the foreign investment limit in private sector lender Axis Bank.
“FDI proposals for more than Rs 13,000 crore were recommended for approval. Inflow of investments continue,” said Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das on the clearances.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the FIPB where it cleared five out of 14 proposals brought before it, according to a finance ministry official.
The major chunk of the total worth of clearances came in the form of the nod to Axis Bank’s proposal to increase its foreign shareholding limit to 74 per cent. The current level of FDI in the bank stands at 64 per cent. The Axis Bank proposal alone entails foreign investments worth Rs 12,900 crore.
As per current policy, private banks can have a total foreign investment limit of 74 per cent, of which foreign institutional investments (FII) limit is 49 per cent.
Other proposals that were cleared include proposals of Pharmaceutical firm Wockhardt and Aurobindo.
FIPB, which is an Inter ministerial panel, can clear proposals worth up to Rs 5,000 crore. The ones above that amount go to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
According official data, foreign direct investment into the country increased by 40 per cent to $29.44 billion during April- December of 2015-16.
The foreign investment inflows were at $21.04 billion in the same period of previous fiscal.