India logged nearly Rs 4,900 crore of FDI after easing rules for Chinese-linked firms
29 proposals since May, on the automatic route, from investors who are not themselves based in China.
An official told PTI that 29 foreign-investment proposals, worth about Rs 4,895.65 crore, have come in since the finance ministry changed the FEMA rules on 1 May. The change lets an overseas company with up to 10 percent Chinese or Hong Kong shareholding invest in India on the automatic route, in sectors where FDI is already allowed that way.
The money is showing up in information technology, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, data centres and transport. The investors themselves are booked in Mauritius, the United States, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands. The relaxation does not cover a company that is registered in China, Hong Kong, or another country that shares a land border with India.
Until May, even a single share held by an investor from a land-border country forced the whole deal through government approval. The official line is that the new rule cuts that delay, as long as the reporting is done.
This is not a reopening to Chinese capital. It is a way to stop a 2 percent Chinese stub on a Singapore or Mauritius vehicle from sending a factory or a data-centre cheque into a six-month file. Rs 4,900 crore across 29 deals is not a wave. It is the first count of what the May notification actually unblocked.
The next tell is whether the next quarter's FDI print names these sectors, and whether New Delhi keeps the 10 percent line where it is. A company registered in China still needs approval. That part of Press Note 3 has not moved.