The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), has eased the FDI norms for foreign retailers and raised FDI caps in several sectors to boost forex inflows.

With relaxed FDI norms, foreign retailers such as Walmart and Carrefour can set up shop in the country.

CCEA has raised the cap on foreign direct investments to 100 per cent in telecom, and to more than 26 per cent on a case-to-case basis in defence. It has allowed FDI upto 49 per cent under automatic route in nine sectors including single-brand retail, state-run oil refineries, commodity bourses, power exchanges, stock exchanges and clearing corporations.

In addition to this, the cabinet has also approved amendments to dilute many contentious conditions in the multi-brand retail policy, including 50 per cent investment in backend infrastructure, 30 per cent sourcing from small firms, and access only to cities with over one million population.