FDI from Pakistan not yet approved: Indian official

Indian High Commission in Islamabad has forwarded a negative list of 1,209 items to be approved by Pakistan Cabinet.

NEW DEHLI:

The Indian government has said on Wednesday that it has not taken any decision yet on allowing investments from Pakistan.

“No decision has been notified by the government with regard to permitting investments from Pakistan at par with Bangladesh,” Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia has said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

Earlier, officials had said that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion had sent a proposal to the finance ministry seeking amendments in the Foreign Exchange Management Act to allow foreign direct investments from Pakistan.

The Indian government currently allows such investments from Bangladesh.

In another reply, Scindia said that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has forwarded a negative list of 1,209 items to be approved by the Pakistan Cabinet, which will “substantially improve prospects of exports from India to Pakistan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2012.