Will shut down FIPB through Executive order, Finance Ministry Sources say

A day after the Union Budget declared that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will be phased-out in the next fiscal, sources from the Ministry of Finance said that the FIPB will be shut down through the passage of an Executive order.

Before shutting down the government will dispose the existing FIPB cases, Alok Priyadarshi reported on Thursday.

In his budget speech yesterday, Jaitley said that a Bill will soon be tabled in Parliament to protect the poor and gullible investors who are currently with the FIPB.

More than 90% of the total Foreign Direct Investment inflows came in via the automatic route.

Jaitley pointed out that the FIPB had ‘successfully’ implemented e-filing and online processing of FDI applications and now reached a stage where FIPB can be phased out.

The Finance Minister said that a draft bill to curtail the menace of illicit deposit schemes has been placed in the public domain and will be introduced in parliament shortly after its finalisation.

“This Act will be amended in consultation with various stakeholders, as part of our ‘Clean India’ agenda,” he added.