Infrastructure sector is top of the list when it comes to clearing foreign investment proposals by the government. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) must prioritise items falling in the infrastructure sector when considering proposals, a note prepared by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has said.
This is in keeping with the UPA government’s focus on the infrastructure sector.
All foreign investment proposals that do not fall under the automatic route, need to approach the FIPB, a unit in the finance ministry, for approvals.
While the government wants maximum priority for the infrastructure sector in terms of foreign investment approvals, next on the list are items that have export potential, followed by those with large-scale employment potential (especially for rural people). Also in the FIPB priority list, as per the government note, are items which have a linkage with agro business/farm sector, and those which have greater social relevance such as hospitals, human resource development, life saving drugs and equipment.
Proposals which result in induction of technology or infusion of capital, are also to be considered on an urgent basis. The UPA-II regime recently set up a Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The objective behind the CCI was to have an action-oriented panel for clearing infrastructure projects. “Infrastructure committees have been around for years, but this one would reflect the priority of the UPA government vis-a-vis the sector,” a bureaucrat had told this newspaper then.
The Committee considers and takes decisions in respect of all infrastructure related proposals costing more than Rs150 crore specifically those concerning energy, railways, roads and national highways, ports, airports, telecommunications, information technology, irrigation, housing and urban development with particular emphasis on rural housing and urban slum clearance.
Earlier this year, president Pratibha Patil had in her inaugural address to Parliament mentioned the significance of the infrastructure sector for the UPA government. She had said, “infrastructure is a fundamental enabler for a modern economy and infrastructure development will be a key focus area for the next five years.”
The president had also said that “bottlenecks and delays in implementation of infrastructure projects because of policies and procedures, especially in railways, power, highways, ports, airports and rural telecom will be systematically removed.”
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