Foreign Direct Investment - FDI Company India - Foreign Investment Division

Indian has amongst the most 6 liberal and transparent policies on FDI among emerging economies. FDI up to 100% is allowed under almost all activities, except a few. Press Note 7 (2008 Series) further provides that the following sectors are prohibited for FDI :

The extant policy does not permit FDI in the following cases:

gambling and betting;
lottery business;
atomic energy;
retail trading (except single branded product retailing).

General permission of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is available to Indian companies to issue right/bonus shares, subject to certain conditions. Entitlement of rights shares is not automatically available to investors who have been allotted such shares as Overseas Corporate Bodies (OCBs). OCBs have been derecognized as a class of investors with effect from 16 September 2003. Such issuing companies would have to seek specific permission from RBI, Foreign Exchange Department, Foreign Investment Division, Central Office, Mumbai for issue of shares on right basis to erstwhile OCBs. However bonus shares can be issued to erstwhile OCBs

Where a scheme of merger or amalgamation of two or more Indian companies has been approved by a court in India, the transferee company may issue shares to the shareholders of the transferor company resident outside India, subject to ensuring that the percentage of shareholding of persons resident outside India in the transferee or new company does not exceed the percentage specified in the approval granted by the Central Government or the RBI.

An individual resident in India may purchase equity shares offered by a foreign company under its ESOP scheme if he/she is an employee or a director of an Indian office, branch or subsidiary of a foreign company.

In the case of the software field, a resident may purchase shares of a Joint Venture Company/Wholly owned Subsidiary (JV/WOS) if he/she is an employee or director of the Indian Promoter Company where the shares so acquired do not exceed 5% of the paid-up capital of the JV/WOS outside India.