New Delhi, March 8: The Reserve Bank of India will share FDI-related information with country’s intelligence agencies — IB and RAW — to check black money from entering the country.
The decision was taken during a recent meeting of a government group, headed by Revenue Secretary, to check economic crimes. The move comes after Cabinet Secretariat — under whose administrative control Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) functions — expressed concern over companies in tax havens investing in the country, official sources said.
Emphasising on the need to keep a track of such companies’ source of funding, the Cabinet Secretariat suggested that Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) under the Finance Ministry should maintain a database of such entities and investments, a move which was later rejected, they said.
During the meeting of “Working Group on Intelligence Apparatus”, representatives of Intelligence Bureau felt that it is important to have the information. It was decided that RBI should share with IB and Cabinet Secretariat, information on FDI which actually enters the country, the sources said.
The moves assumes significance as the government expects rise in FDI inflow to the country owing to its attempts to liberalise trade and promote ease of doing business.
The FDI comes either through automatic route (which gets recorded by RBI) or through Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)–an inter-ministerial body under the Department of Economic Affairs, which is responsible for processing of FDI proposals and making recommendations for government approval.
