The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for the amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act, 1957). The amendment will allow transfer of captive mining leases not granted through auction. Transfer of captive mining leases, granted otherwise than through auction, would allow mergers and acquisitions of companies and facilitate ease of doing business for companies to improve profitability and decrease costs of the companies' dependent on supply of mineral ore from captive leases. The transfer provisions will also facilitate banks and financial institutions to liquidate stressed assets where a company or its captive mining lease is mortgaged. 

A little over ninety per cent of the total foreign direct investment received during April-December this fiscal came through automatic route, the government said today.
"FDI equity inflow received through automatic route and approval route during the current financial year (up to December 2015) is 90.24 per cent and 9.76 per cent respectively," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. 
According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the country has received USD 29.44 billion foreign direct investment (FDI).

Several measures are in the works at central and state levels to streamline laws and simplify processes for converting "red tape into red carpet" for investors, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said.

DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said the department wants to cut down legal, regulatory and procedural complexity associated with doing business in India.He was speaking at the launch of NCAER's State Investment Potential index report.

One of the Modi government’s pet projects—Start-up India, Stand up India—has been recognized as a key policy initiative to stimulate entrepreneurial activity. The project was launched on 16 January amid much fanfare. During his speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed virtually every aspect of the start-up ecosystem holistically—from tax to funding to ease of doing business.

Fast-growing Indian start-ups, hungry for success, are run by a breed of entrepreneurs who are risk-loving, instinctive and disruptive. They are looking for an environment conducive for them to focus on the business (and not the paperwork), build businesses (and valuations!) overnight, or exit even faster. They are mobile and while patriotic, impatient when it comes to confronting some of the typical problems that the Indian environment throws up for businesses—problems that we have all become accustomed to accept. They like to change the way things are done, often dramatically, and do not build businesses based on licences or allocations.

To further improve ease of doing business, the government is considering amendments to the Companies Act, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said.

The Companies Law Committee, which submitted its report to the government on February 1, has suggested amendments to 78 sections of the Act, excluding consequential amendments in other sections.The panel had looked into issues arising from the implementation of the Companies Act, 2013.

Taking another step towards ease of doing business, the Centre will launch tomorrow a common registration facility on e-biz portal which will enable employers to avoid filing separate EPF and ESI returns.

“Labour Ministry will launch the Common Registration Facility on e-biz Portal, integration of the annual return under Mines Act 1952 and common ECR (Electronic Challan cum Return) for EPFO/ESIC with the ShramSuvidha Portal, here tomorrow,” the Labour Ministry said in a release

The Reserve Bank of India will share FDI-related information with country's intelligence agencies -- IB and RAW -- to check black money from entering the country.

The decision was taken during a recent meeting of a government group, headed by Revenue Secretary, to check economic crimes. The move comes after Cabinet Secretariat -- under whose administrative control Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) functions -- expressed concern over companies in tax havens investing in the country, official sources said.

The government has raised the financial threshold limit for companies seeking a nod from the Competition Commission for proposed mergers and acquisitions. The move aimed at improving the ease of doing business
The latest steps by the corporate affairs ministry would benefit businesses, especially start-ups, where dealvaluations are not too high.

In a notification, the ministry said it is enhancing “on the basis of the wholesale price index, the value of assets and the value of turnover, by hundred per cent for the purposes of Section 5 of the said (Competition) Act”.