Make-in-India: Foreign Investors can invest $2 billion and get Residency Permit and other benefits

The latest policy idea of the central government is that if a foreign company invests $2 billion, it will be given residency permission so that the key employees of the company can stay in India as well as utilize cheap resources and special packages for upscale housing.  The main agenda behind this new idea is to make the country an attractive destination for foreign investment.

• The formal announcement can be made after the budget session, sometime in March, according to an official source. The draft idea known as the Resident Permit Policy is now under the review process. Once it gets the nod, this policy will be first-of-its-kind policy in the Country. Thus India will be able to join a long list of nations like the US, Canada, Singapore as well as some European countries who offer investment-linked residency facilities.
• The sources close to the development said that not just the residency permits, the government is equally working on creating smoother ways to provide work visas to foreign investors. The efforts are being made to strengthen PM Modi’s one of the most ambitious initiative- Make-in-India.
• One of the main inputs will however come from the security agencies. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) will be required to cross-check background information on the individuals as well as the companies planning for staying long in the country. However, the agencies revealed that background check will not take much time if the investors/employees have clean background.
• The current government has already cleared 1,671 proposals last year. Out of these proposals, 85 projects are from foreign investors such as US (with 18 cleared proposals), Hong Kong (with 11), France (9), China (8) and Germany (with 6).

(Sources: ET)