whilePresenting her maiden budget early this month, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that FDI inflows into India have remained robust despite global headwinds. ” While Global FDI f slid by 13 percent in 2018 to $1.3 trillion, India’s inflows remained strong at $64.37 billion and grew 6 percent over the previous year. I propose to to make India a more attractive FDI destination,” she said. “Local sourcing norms will be eased for FDI in single brand retail sector,” she added.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said, “India has opened up opportunities for single brand retail and is easing some detrimental clauses of the policy in the next few weeks which will help single brand retail come in a bigger way into the country.
Analysts and industry insiders lauded the decision. “Apple should be celebrating this. If anything, this makes is easier for them to ramp up their timelines for an India store,” said Rushabh Doshi, research manager at Singapore-based research firm Canalys.