Undeterred by the Defence Ministry’s opposition to a proposal of hiking foreign direct investment (FDI) to 74 per cent in the defence sector, the Commerce Ministry has made it clear it would “definitely” go in for 49 per cent FDI.
“I am in favour of raising FDI in defence to at least 49 per cent if not 74 per cent and this is what my department has recommended,” said Sharma on the sidelines of CII’s annual general meeting.
The Commerce & Industry Ministry had initially recommended raising the FDI limit in the defence sector from the present 26 per cent to 74 per cent. But the proposal was met with the opposition from the Defence Ministry that argued that it could lead to security concerns.
“FDI of 26 per cent is definitely low. I recommended and will continue to strive for higher FDI in defence. There has to be a partnership between the Government and industry,” Sharma added.
On the issue of FDI in the retail sector, he said major global retailers like Sainsbury and Tesco have submitted applications to open sourcing centres in India.
“The policy (FDI in retail) was announced just a few months back. It takes time for investments to come in,” he replied when asked why the country had not received any application for FDI in multi-brand retail.
“The government was committed to liberalise the FDI policy for other sectors, including banking and insurance,” he added.
Sharma also confirmed that the sixth edition of the consolidated FDI Policy will be announced this week by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary.