'Startups are thrilled...they feel funding winter may end with angel tax abolition'

The government is looking at ways to speed up the process of clearing foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary RAJESH KUMAR SINGH said on Thursday. In a post-Budget interview, Singh told Shreya Nandi in New Delhi that the pipeline of funds should get better, with abolition of the contentious angel tax. Edited excerpts:

- Shreya Nandi

The Budget talks about simplification of FDI rules. What changes can we expect?

As of now, we are looking at process improvements. There is a standard operating procedure ((SOP) of three months to take a decision on clearing FDI proposals via the government route. These are not being adhered to in many cases, including DPIIT. At times, there are no inputs from the concerned ministries on time (that delays the process). The idea is to make decisions faster. An (existing) online portal will be used to flag the delays.

What about further liberalisation of the FDI limit in certain sectors?

No view has been taken. There are some residual sectors, including news broadcasting. However, there's no consensus. Initial consultations have also not taken place.