Budget 2017: FM Jaitley proposes abolishing FIPB from next fiscal

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech proposed that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will be phased-out in the next fiscal. Calling it as "dubioud deposit schemes", Jaitley said that a Bill will soon be tabled in Parliament to protect the poor and gullible investors.

The decision came in because as more than 90% of the total FDI inflows are now through the automatic route, Jaitley said that the FIPB has successfully implemented e-filing and online processing of FDI applications and now reached a stage where FIPB can be phased out. Therefore, FIPB will be abolished in 2017-18, he added.

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.

Moreover, in order to enhance operational flexibility, Jaitley said that a common application form for registration, opening of bank and demat accounts, and issue of PAN will be introduced for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs). For this, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), Reserve Bank of India and Central Board of Direct Taxes will jointly put in place the necessary systems and procedures.