India: Strong focus on ease of doing business

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has developed an 'integrated declaration' process leading to the creation of a single window which is expected to provide the importers and exporters a single point interface for customs clearance. In fact, the single window mechanism is expected to reduce interface with government agencies for the exporters/importers and result in saving of both time and cost of doing business. These instructions and changes signify important steps towards overall ease of doing business.

In another significant development, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared 15 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals including large investments in the insurance sector by Nippon Life Insurance, AIA International, Sun Life and Aviva Life leading to a cumulative investment of Rs 7,262 crore (US$ 1.09 billion). It may be noted here that this is the first set of big-ticket investments in the insurance industry after Parliament approved a Bill in March last year to raise FDI limit in the sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.