Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the body that processed foreign investment under the government route in mandated sectors came to an end on the June of 2017. With the formal dissolution of FIPB, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) came into being in order to process Foreign Direct Investment in sectors and activities that require a prior government approval.
The Standard Operating Procedure was prepared by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for a simpler execution of foreign investments in a time bound manner. Under the SOP, applications for foreign investment in sectors and activities that require a prior approval from the government would be filed on the revamped Foreign Investment Promotion Board online portal, now known as Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal (FIFP).
The Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal is, therefore, the new online portal for investors to facilitate Foreign Direct Investment. The FIFP portal processes the FDI proposals which are through the approval route. This portal is administered by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. On receiving a foreign investment application or proposal, the concerned administrative department will process the application as specified by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). With the revised framework, applications filed on the FIFP portal do not require a physical submission of the copy, provided the application has been digitally signed.
In order to start an application to be processed by FIFP, user has to register at its web portal. At the time of registration, the details such as Name, Telephone, Mobile, Email etc. need to be specified. After filling in all the details, a onetime password (OTP) for verification is sent to the registered mobile number or email ID. After user enters the OTP received against the specific request number, another SMS giving the details of login id is sent by the system along with an email containing a web link. After user clicks on the web link received in his/her email id, he/she can assign password and activate the login to access the portal.