On Thursday, the Government announced that every 6 months, an updated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy would be brought out, while unveiling a "comprehensive press note consolidating the entire regime for foreign investments in one place for easy reference".

Mr. Anand Sharma, the Commerce and Industry Minister, released the first ever draft of the new consolidated policy, in addition to releasing the very latest FDI figures, which reveal a 60% increase for the month of November to $1.74 Billion.

"As far as FDI policy is concerned, it has been felt, through interaction with various investors, counterpart government organizations and other stakeholders, that there is a need for further simplification and consolidation of the FDI policy framework, so as to make it more comprehensible to all investors and stakeholders", Mr. Sharma said.

Till January 31, 2010, the new draft released will be open for public comments, and the final draft will then be released by April 1, 2010.

As confirmed by the official figures released, the FDI inflow for the month of November have been recorded as $1.74 Billion, a hike of 60% over the $1.08 Billion recorded for November of 2008.

Also, equity inflows of FDI, as a GDP percentage, have risen from the 2005-06 figure of 0.75% to 2.49% for 2008-09.