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Proposals for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which are not covered under the automatic route are considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on the basis of transparent guidelines. 
FDI in the following activities requires prior Government approval:

1. Courier services
2. Petroleum sector except oil refinery in private sector
3. Trading activities involving FDI beyond 51% where it is primarily export activities 
4. FDI up to 100% in trading companies engaged in exports, bulk imports, cash and carry wholesale trading, imports and trading for providing after sales services; trading of hi-tech items; trading of hi-tech medical and diagnostic items; trading of items sourced from small scale sector; test marketing for 2 years of products for which a company has approval for manufacture; B2B e-commerce activities subject to divestment of 26% equity in favour of the Indian public within 5 years if the companies are listed in other parts of the world.
5. Those attracting industrial licensing from small scale industries/public sector reservation and locational angle viz. distillation and brewing of alcoholic beverages; cigars and cigarettes of tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes; electronic aerospace and defence equipment of all types; industrial explosives including detonating fuses, gunpowder, nitrocellulose and matches; hazardous chemicals; drugs and pharmaceuticals produced by recombinant DNA technology and specific cell/tissue targeted formulations.
6. In tea sector, including tea plantations with FDI up to 100% subject to compulsory divestment of 26% equity of the company in favour of an Indian partner/Indian public within a period of five years.
7. In print media, FDI up to 74% in Indian entities publishing scientific/technical & speciality magazines/periodicals/journals; and FDI up to 26% in Indian entities publishing newspapers and periodicals.

Oil and Natural Gas

The Indian government has announced significant policy initiative to attract foreign investment:

1. Indian oil and gas fields are open for investment by the domestic private and foreign entrepreneurs under the framework of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) set out by Government of India in 1998. In the first round of offer under NELP, 24 blocks have been awarded and production sharing contracts signed. Bids offered in the second round under NELP is being finalized for another 25 blocks including deep water blocks. The process for the third round of offer of blocks is under preparation. The first round of offer of seven Coal bed Methane (CBM) blocks has been launched in April 2001.
2. FDI is permitted up to 100% in discovered small sized fields through competitive bidding and 60% for unincorporated joint ventures and 51% for incorporated joint ventures in medium sized fields.
3. Refining has been delicensed. The demand for petroleum products is estimated to grow at an annual rate of 6% to reach the level of 370 million tonnes per annum in 2025. The investment in marketing infrastructure during the above period is estimated to be around $32 billion. 

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March 2006