Indian industry and chambers welcomed the release of a consolidated FDI policy document brought out by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.

A Sakthivel, President, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) hailed the announcement of market linked focus product scheme for apparel, specified petroleum and electronic products which will impart competitiveness to these sectors.

Sakthivel thanked the government for the timely action as rupee appreciation has started its adverse effect on exports. He added that these measures will push diversification both at product and market level.

Meanwhile, Rajan Bharti Mittal, President, FICCI said, "The need of the hour is to simplify procedures and this policy document is a step in that direction. At a time when FDI flows to major economies of the world have been going down, India has managed to attract significant a flow. This shows that we continue to remain a leading destination globally for foreign investors. With the government taking steps to bring about procedural reforms, FDI flows would only rise as the global economic tide turns. This is a welcome move and will help India attract higher FDI flows."

"It is important that the message goes out far and wide that authorities in India are taking steps to simplify the rules and regulations pertaining to FDI. Invest India – a joint venture between Central government and FICCI – should ensure this," he added.

Rajan Bharti Mittal underlined the need for undertaking procedural reforms and improving the ease of doing business in India. He said that FICCI has already initiated a program in which it is engaging with the state governments to bring about an improvement in the investment environment.

While welcoming the consolidation of the FDI policy framework announced on Wednesday, another leading industry chamber, CII said that this would go a long way in boosting the global investors’ confidence and in increasing the quantum of FDI inflows into India.

This move would greatly enhance transparency and clarity of the existing FDI policy framework, CII said.

The consolidation of the FDI policy would also aid simplification and enhance predictability of the FDI policy that would also neutralize any negative perceptions based on hearsay regarding the FDI regulatory policy environment in India, CII added.

The establishment of regular review of the consolidated FDI policy document every 6 months is also a major welcome move that would help consolidate any changes to the policy which are under discussion currently and this would also remove any uncertainty in terms of applicability of any such changes, CII said.

PHD Chamber also welcomes the release of the consolidated document of the FDI Policy Framework.

While appreciating the initiative of the government, and though there has been a significant improvement in the realisation rate of actual inflow of FDI as a percentage of approved FDI in the past few years, the Chamber feels that, it is still way below the desired level.

What is of concern even with the changes in the policy is that implementation and the trickle-down of reforms to the operating levels is significantly lacking. Though policy barriers have been progressively removed, administrative bottlenecks, especially at the operational level, and the inevitable delays in project implementation, continue to be impediments to greater inflows of FDI, said Ashok Kajaria, President, PHD Chamber.