[The following guest post is contributed by Vinod Kothari of Vinod Kothari & Co.] If a company wholly or majorly owned by non residents allows group or subsidiary companies to share your photocopier, or server, or staff, are you engaged in “real estate business”? The question itself must have startled most: however, a purported clarification of the Department of Industrial Policy and...
Composite Caps for Foreign Investment Formalized
We had earlier discussed the Union Cabinet’s decision to create composite caps for foreign investment under various categories. That decision has now been formalized in the form of Press Note No. 8 of 2015 issued by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India (“DIPP”). In the previous post, we had highlighted two outstanding issues from the Cabinet decision that were...
Composite Caps for Foreign Investment
Although liberalized over time, caps on foreign investments in select sectors have been a hallmark of India’s foreign investment policy. Added to this is the prescription of “sub-limits” for specific types of foreign investment such as foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and foreign direct investment (FDI). Currently, in several sectors there are different caps for FPI and FDI. For example, in the...
Lack of Regulatory Clarity on Foreign Investment in the Insurance Sector
[The following guest post is contributed by Nivedita Shankar, Senior Associate, Corporate Law Division, Vinod Kothari & Company. The author may be reached at [email protected]]. An increase in the threshold limit for foreign investment in insurance companies has been hailed as a major thrust for the insurance sector, which has seen very few players. In this background, the Indian...
DIPP Clarification on NRI Investments
[The following guest post is contributed by Dipanjali Nagpal of Vinod Kothari & Co. The author may be contacted at [email protected]. This post follows upon an earlier more brief post on the topic.] The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India reviewed the Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy Circular of...
Liberalization of Investments by Non-Resident Indians
Non-resident Indians (NRIs) have long been considered as a separate category of investors who have enjoyed some privileges compared to other classes of foreign investors. NRIs have been allowed to investment either on a repatriable basis (with more stringent norms) and on a non-repatriable basis (with less stringent norms). Earlier this week, by way of Press Note No. 7 (2015 Series), the...
Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2015
The Department of Industrial Policy
and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued its annual FDI Policy
Circular for 2015, which takes effect from May 12, 2015. Although the
circular essentially consolidates all the changes made to the policy during the
previous year, there are some further changes that are discussed in this EY
Regulatory Alert (via The Firm).
Revised FDI Norms for Construction Notified
Last month, we had carried a guest
post summarising and commenting upon the changes to the FDI norms in the
construction industry, which relaxed several conditions. Now the Department of
Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has made these changes effective in the
form of Press
Note No. 10 (2014 Series).
Update: Relaxation of FDI Norms for Construction Development Sector
[The following post is contributed by Bhushan Shah at Mansukhlal Hiralal & Company, Mumbai] The Union Cabinet on 29 October 2014 decided to amend the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in the construction sector, i.e. townships, housing and built-up infrastructure. The press release is available here. The key amendments are as follows: Minimum area to be developed: (a) The minimum built...
Foreign Direct Investment: Trusts as Investment Vehicles
[Vishal Achanta has contributed the following guest post. Vishal is a 5th year student at the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi] Recently, two investment vehicles have been introduced that as per the relevant SEBI regulations are to be set up as trusts: Real Estate Investment Trusts (‘REITs’) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (‘IITs’). Both are intended to be pooling...
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