With the notification of six 2008-series Press Notes by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, India has liberalized foreign investment norms in the following six sectors:

• Credit Information Companies
• Commodity Exchanges  
• Industrial Parks  
• Civil Aviation  
• Petroleum and Natural Gas  
• Titanium Mining

Foreign investment up to 49% shall be allowed in credit information companies with prior approval of the government and regulatory clearance from the Indian central bank RBI through the Foreign Direct Investment ("FDI") route and by registered Foreign Institutional Investors ("FII") under the Portfolio Investment Scheme.

FIIs shall be permitted to invest only up to 24% in the credit information companies listed at the Stock Exchanges, within the overall limit of 49% for foreign investment, subject to the following conditions:

i.     No single entity should directly or indirectly hold more than 10% equity,
ii.    Any acquisition in excess of 1% will have to be reported to RBI, and
iii.   FIIs shall not seek a board representation based upon their shareholding. 

Concurrently, Credit Reference Agencies have been deleted from the list of approved activities of Non-Banking Finance Companies wherein 100% FDI was allowed under the automatic route subject to certain capitalization restrictions.

Foreign investment up to 49% shall be allowed in commodity exchanges through the FDI route and by registered FIIs under the Portfolio Investment Scheme with the following conditions:

i.    FDI will be allowed with specific prior approval of the government,
ii.   Investment by registered FIIs will be limited to 23% and investment through FDI route will be limited to 26%,
iii.  FII purchases shall be restricted to the secondary market only, and
iv.  No foreign investor or entity will hold more than 5% of the equity in these companies.

FDI up to 100% shall be allowed in setting up and establish industrial parks free of the conditions imposed by Press Note 2 (2005) for construction development projects subject to the following conditions:

i.    Industrial park comprises of a minimum of 10 units with no single unit occupying more than 50% the allocable area; and
ii.    Not less than 66% of the total allocable area shall be allocated for industrial activity

The scope of Air Transport Services has been expanded to include domestic schedule passenger airlines, non-scheduled airlines, chartered airlines, cargo airlines, helicopter and seaplane services with the following FDI limits and conditions:

FDI up to 49% and investment by Non-resident Indians ("NRI") up to 100% shall be allowed under the automatic route in domestic scheduled passenger airlines.

• FDI up to 74% and investment by NRIs up to 100% shall be allowed under the automatic route in non-scheduled airlines, chartered airlines and cargo airlines.
• FDI up to 100% shall be allowed under the automatic route for helicopter and seaplane services requiring DGCA approval.
• Foreign airlines shall be allowed to participate in the equity of companies operating cargo airlines, helicopter and seaplane services but not in the equity of air transport undertakings engaged in operating scheduled, non-scheduled and chartered airlines.
• Press Note 4 prescribes the following FDI limits for other services in the civil aviation sector:
  • Ground Handling Services:  FDI up to 74% and investment by NRIs up to 100% shall be allowed under the automatic route subject to sectoral regulations and security clearance. 
  • Maintenance and Repair Organizations, Flying Training Institutions and Technical Training Institutions:  FDI up to 100% shall be allowed under the automatic route.  

Press Note 5 brings about following changes in the existing FDI policy for the petroleum and natural gas sector:
FDI limit has been increased from 26% to 49% in petroleum refining by Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) with prior approval of Foreign Investment Promotion Board without involving any divestment or dilution of domestic equity in the existing PSUs.

• FDI up to 100% in actual trading and marketing of petroleum products shall be allowed without the existing condition that 26% foreign equity should be divested in favor of Indian partner or public within 5 years.

FDI up to 100% shall be allowed with prior government approval in mining and mineral separation of titanium bearing minerals and ores, its value addition and integrated activities subject to sectoral regulations and Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.  FDI in separation of titanium bearing minerals and ores will be subject to the following conditions:

i.    Value addition facilities are set within along with transfer of technology, and
ii.   Disposal of tailings during the mineral separation shall be carried out in accordance with regulations framed by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.