The government on Monday said foreign investors eligible through the automatic approval route should seek prior approval only in case of specific reasons.
"The investors are hereby advised to access the automatic route where the policy so permits. Whenever prior approval is sought for activities or royalty payments eligible for automatic route, the investors would need to indicate the specific reason for seeking it," an official statement said.
The statement said that FDI up to 100 per cent is permitted under the automatic route in most sectors or activities. It is also allowed for foreign technology collaboration where the payments are within five per cent for domestic sales and eight per cent for exports.
It clarified that only cases not covered under the automatic route need approval of the government through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board or Project Approval Board for FDI or foreign technology collaboration.
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