The Finance Ministry today exuded confidence that the issues raised by it over the changes in the foreign direct investment (FDI) rules, which will change the structure of some banks, will get resolved once the Commerce Ministry comes out with its "comprehensive revision" of FDI rules next month.
"We are still in dialogue (with the Commerce Ministry). As you are aware that DIPP (the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) is coming out with a comprehensive revision of FDI rules... Therefore, we see some positive movement," joint secretary in the Finance Ministry Govind Mohan told reporters here today.
He said the DIPP had earlier stated that all the issues raised by the Finance Ministry and RBI on Press Notes 2 and 3, 2009, which changed the way FDI is calculated, will be resolved.
When asked how the Finance Ministry is so hopeful of resolving the issues since the comprehensive document by DIPP is expected to be about the existing FDI rules and not changes in them, he said the document would need to factor in all the issues flagged by us.
"Since there is a time-limit attached to notifying the document, we are hopeful that these issues will be resolved," Mohan said after launching an FIPB portal.
With the changes in the FDI guidelines, several private sector banks, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, found that their status would change from "resident" to "non-resident".
As such, the Finance Ministry and RBI sought clarifications over the new rules from DIPP.
The ownership structure of some private sector banks will change since the total FDI, as per the new norms, will take into account the stakes held by non-resident Indians, American and global depository receipts, foreign currency convertible bonds and convertible preference shares as well.
However, the DIPP had earlier made it clear that the exercise of comprehensive document is "not intended to make changes" in the existing policy. The document would be a compendium of all FDI-related 177 Press Motes for comments from public.
