What is Press Note 3 on FDI?
In April 2020, the government issued Press Note 3, which mandated that any foreign direct investment (FDI) by firms based in countries sharing India’s land borders requires prior approval from the government on a case-by-case basis. These countries included China, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar and Afghanistan. This was done to prevent any opportunistic takeover during the pandemic era and was mainly aimed against China. To be sure, Press Note 3, while it changed the FDI policy at the time and subjected investment from land border countries to greater scrutiny, it did not prevent them from investing.
