A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been issued on 29th June, 2017 for processing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals by Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) (earlier known as Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion) which is available on the website: fifp.gov.in. As per the SOP, 8 to 10 weeks’ time has been fixed for decision on the proposals, excluding the time taken by applicants in removing deficiencies in the proposals/supplying additional information as may be required by the competent authority. Further, to ensure timely disposal of FDI proposals, periodic review is undertaken by DPIIT with other stakeholder Ministries/Departments.

The number of FDI proposals received under Government approval route in the last three years and in the current year, upto June, 2019 is as under:

S.No.	Calendar Year	Number of Proposals Received
1.	2016	199
2.	2017	122
3.	2018	117
4.	Upto June 2019	55

It may be noted that, in the extant FDI Policy, except for a small negative list, most sectors are open for 100% FDI under automatic route. In the financial year 2018-19, 94.53% FDI equity inflow was received under automatic route. Further, the FDI inflows have been consistently rising each year which can be seen from the table below:

S. No.	Financial Year	Total FDI Inflows (in USD billion)
1.	2016-17	60.22
2.	2017-18	60.97
3.	2018-19	64.38
4.	2019-20 (up to April, 2019)	6.95

  NOTE: Figures are provisional subject to reconciliation with RBI

To promote FDI, the Government has put in place an investor-friendly policy, wherein except for a small negative list, most sectors are open for 100% FDI under the automatic route. Further, the policy on FDI is reviewed on an ongoing basis, to ensure that India remains attractive & investor friendly destination. Changes are made in the policy after having consultations with stakeholders including apex industry chambers, associations, representatives of industries/groups and other organizations taking into consideration their views/comments. However, FDI is largely a matter of private business decisions. FDI inflows depend on a host of factors such as availability of natural resource, market size, infrastructure and general investment climate as well as macro-economic stability and investment decision of foreign investors.

This information was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

Fast-track FDI processing: SOP timelines and inter-ministerial review support quicker decisions while most sectors use automatic approval. Fast-track processing for FDI proposals is governed by a Standard Operating Procedure requiring decisions within a prescribed timeframe, with pauses allowed for applicants to rectify deficiencies; periodic inter-ministerial reviews support timely disposal. The FDI policy permits 100% foreign investment in most sectors under the automatic route except a limited negative list, and is subject to ongoing review and stakeholder consultation while recognising commercial determinants of inflows.