central government. on an annual basis, it issues a consolidated circular detailing the policy stance. the sectoral limits, approval routes and investment linked conditionalities are laid down in the policy stance. it also issues press notes as and when changes in the policy are proposed. regulations are issued under the foreign exchange management act, 1999 ( fema ) to give a legal backing to these policies. investment can be received in the form of equity shares, compulsorily convertible preference shares ( ccps ) and compulsorily convertible debentures ( ccds ). these instruments can contain an optionality clause subject to a minimum lock - in period of one year but without any option or right to exit at an assured price. the inflows on account of foreign investment was us $ 36. 485 billion in the financial year 2015 – 16. in the recent past regulations on investments have been liberalized to ensure increased flows. following the revisions in the foreign direct investment ( fdi ) policy announced by the government, the regulations have been amended so that wherever sectoral limits / caps on foreign investment are in place, such limits / caps are required to be reckoned within a 3 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches composite manner aggregating both foreign direct investment ( fdi ) and foreign portfolio investment ( fpi ). in addition “ control ” and “ ownership ” have been defined for the purpose of arriving at the indirect foreign investment in an indian company and guidelines have been issued for calculating the ‘ total foreign investment ’ to be taken as the sum total of direct and indirect foreign investments. regulations have also been amended to simplify fdi linked conditionalities, increase sectoral caps and include certain sectors under automatic route. this liberalization had a positive impact on sectors viz., manufacturing, insurance, railway construction, defence, plantation, real estate business, e - commerce in single brand retail, etc. in addition, foreign investment in limited liability partnership ( llp ) has been permitted under the automatic route for sectors where 100 per cent fdi is allowed without attendant fdi - linked performance conditionality. ease of doing business several steps have been initiated for facilitating the ease of doing business and contributing to an ecosystem that is conducive to the growth of start - ups. accordingly, a dedicated mailbox was set up to provide assistance and guidance to the start - up sector. further, online submission of form a2 for outward remittances has been enabled. certain transactions related

to start - ups which were clarified / notified are as under : ( i ) issue of shares without cash payment through sweat equity was permitted provided that the scheme has been drawn either in terms of regulations issued by sebi or the government ; ( ii ) issue of shares against legitimate payment owed by the investee company, remittance of which does not require permission of the government or the reserve bank was permitted, ( iii ) start - up enterprises were permitted to collect payments on behalf of their subsidiaries abroad ; ( iv ) companies have been permitted to have an escrow arrangement or paying the consideration on a deferred basis for an amount up to 25 per cent of the total consideration for a period not exceeding 18 months in respect of transfer of shares between a resident and non - resident ; ( v ) startup companies were allowed to issue innovative fdi instruments like convertible notes and ( vi ) start - ups were permitted to access rupee loans under ecb framework with relaxations in respect of eligible lender, end - use and cost of borrowing, etc. the move towards automation and use of technology for reporting and monitoring has been extended to foreign inward investment and all fdi related returns have been replaced with online filing on the government ’ s e - biz portal. non - resident indians deposits ( nri deposits ) india has always been a favored investment destination for its diaspora. the flows in the form of deposits ( fcnrb and nre ) has been steady in the recent years. as on dec 2016, the outstanding fcnr ( b ), nre and nro deposits were us $ 20. 859, us $ 77. 418 and us $ 11. 458 billion, respectively. flows in respect of personal remittances were us $ 44. 083 billion and us $ 37. 656 billion in the last two financial years. to further facilitate the account holders, policies were changed to permit transfer across nonresident ordinary rupee ( nro ) accounts. further, nris and persons of indian origin ( pios ) have been permitted to open nro accounts jointly with other nris / pios. while permitting remittances outside the country from the balances held in nro accounts maintained by nris and pios, ads are now required to obtain a declaration that the remittances represent the account holder ’ s legitimate receivables in india and do not represent any borrowing from any other person or transfer from any other nr