The Government today said that it has cleared 123 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 19,711.17 crore during the current fiscal till August 23.

As of August 23 this year, 21 proposals are pending before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

“During the current year (up to August 23, 2011), the FIPB has approved 123 proposals, in which FDI to the tune of Rs 19,711.17 crore was involved,” Mr Scindia said.

He also said that during April-August 18, 2011-12, FIIs made investments worth $1.98 billion.

In another reply, he said that the Planning Commission has been asked to outline the further steps involved in the formation of a Cashew Board.

“The Planning Commission, which was asked by the Government to discuss with stakeholders the issues relating to formation of a Cashew Board, had in its meeting held on June 14 taken a view that the formation of a board would provide the much needed platform for further growth of the cashew industry,” he added.

Replying to a separate question, Mr Scindia said the downgrade of the United States’ sovereign debt by credit ratings agency S&P appears unlikely to have any significant impact on Indian exports by itself.

The Minister of State for Commerce and Industry added that efforts are being made across countries to mitigate risk and prevent any severe impact on the global economic situation, amid fresh uncertainty over US debt and the stability of euro zone economies, among other factors.

Mr Scindia further said the US is not the largest importer of Indian merchandise and its share of total Indian exports was 8.98 per cent in 2010-11. This was a decline of more than 1.5 per cent vis-a-vis the previous year.

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