Global FDI US$55.4bn
Foreign Direct Investment from the United States into India has increased to US$4.19 billion in 2015-16 from US$804 million in 2013-14, said Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue held Aug 30, 2016 in New Delhi.
Likewise, total global FDI into India totaled US$55.4 billion, up from US$44.2 billion in 2014-15, said Sitharaman.
She also emphasized on India’s commitment to increase bilateral trade with the US to US$500 billion from more than US$105 billion at the last count.
Highlighting a growing number of business-oriented initiatives taken by the New Delhi government, she said these efforts have raised “India’s rank a notch higher in the World Bank Doing Business Report”.
“Our initiative in bringing about the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is expected to overhaul the existing framework for dealing with insolvency of corporates, individuals, partnerships and other entities.
“Our decision to open commercial courts is intended not only for speedy disposal of commercial disputes but also to reinforce investors’ perception of India as a preferred investment destination,” said Sitharaman.
She reported a significant progress on the recommendation of the CEO Forum as well as under our four work streams namely, (a) Standards (b) Ease of doing business (c) Innovation and Entrepreneurship and (d) Infrastructure and Smart cities.
“In the last one year, we have had interactions during the Reverse Trade Mission visit from the United States; and collaboration between the Ministry of Finance and US Treasury relating to floating of municipal bonds to generate additional resources,” she pointed out.
The envisaged goals such as exchange of information and best practices on cross- border trade, reforms in commercial law have provided positive inputs to facilitating ease of doing business. There has been significant progress in the ‘Trading Across Borders’ parameter. “There has been a lot of interaction between the teams to understand and adopt best practices relating to ease of doing business and we look forward to more robust engagement in 2017,” said Sitharaman.
India is also negotiating some important regional and mega regional free trade agreements with partners like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Eurpean Union-India Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement. fii-news.com
