Green channel for all FDI mulled

Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Monday said his ministry would examine the possibility of having a universal green channel for all foreign direct investments into the country, except for a short negative list.

Singh made the comment at a meeting with the members of consultative committee of the ministry today. The minister also earned a pat from former finance minister Manmohan Singh for foreign exchange reserves crossing the $100 billion mark. Manmohan Singh and the other members present at the meeting also commended the government for steering the economy on the path of growth.

Earlier the minister told Parliament that he was concerned at the slow pace of the flow of FDI. He partially blamed the bureaucracy, which he said had not kept pace with the policy changes.

He claimed that officialdom was often putting hurdles to delaying the process of approving FDI proposals.