The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Wednesday held consultations with pension funds, private equity and venture capitals on ways to attract more foreign direct investments into the country, an official said. The meeting was second in the line. Last week, the department held discussions with stakeholders, including law firms and industry chambers, on the matter.

In that meeting, the issues being flagged by law firms included permitting e-commerce players to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in inventory-based models of online trade for export purposes only; easing press note 3 by defining beneficial ownership; and some tweaking the policy for single-brand retail trading.

Under this press note, government approval is mandatory for investors from countries sharing land borders with India in any sector. FDI inflows into India have crossed the USD 1 trillion milestone in the April 2000-September 2024 period.

The key sectors attracting the maximum of these inflows include the services segment, computer software and hardware, telecommunications, trading, construction development, automobile, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.

The investment in India rose by 45 per cent year-on-year to USD 29.79 billion in April-September this fiscal on healthy inflows in services, computer, telecom and pharma sectors, according to government data.