'Investors looking keenly at defence sector after FDI easing'

Foreign investors are showing keen interest in sectors like defence after the government relaxed FDI norms, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
She said that both foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investment are recording healthy growth.
"There is a lot of interest being evinced (by foreign investors)," she told PTI in an interview.
The minister said after the government relaxed FDI rules in over a dozen sectors, including defence, post 'Make in India', investors from countries like Russia expressed interest to invest in India.
"The interest of investors in sectors that we have eased out through the FDI policy keeping in line with the 'Make in India' are all absolutely consistent and inflows are coming in, which are reflective of the changes (that we have made)" she added.

When asked whether the minister is hopeful of getting FDI particularly in the defence sector, Sithraman said: "yes, there is a lot of interest already."

The government has relaxed FDI rules in several sectors including defence, civil aviation, single brand retail, private security agencies, plantation and pharmaceuticals.
In the defence sector, the policy has been tweaked to allow 100 per cent FDI by doing away with the condition of access to "state of the art" technology.
It has now been modified to "modern or for other reasons", a move that will widen the scope of investment by foreign players.
The new norms have also been made applicable to manufacturing of small arms and ammunitions covered under Arms Act 1959. Under the current policy, FDI up to 49 per cent is allowed under automatic route and beyond that under the approval route.

During January-December 2015, India had received only USD 0.08 million FDI in defence industries.
In 2015-16, FDI into India grew by 29 per cent to USD 40 billion.