New Delhi, July 24 (IANS): The launch of 'Make in India' initiative has seen an increase in FDI equity inflows by 48 percent, parliament was told on Friday.

"After the launch of 'Make in India' initiative in September 2014, there has been a 48 percent increase in FDI equity inflows during October 2014 to April 2015 over the corresponding period last year," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"The Investor Facilitation cell in Invest India has received more than 12,000 queries on its portal since the campaign began. Several countries such as Japan, China, France and South Korea have announced their intention to make huge investments in India in various industrial and infrastructure projects," she added.

The minister also informed that an expert committee has been constituted to examine the possibility of replacing multiple prior permissions and pre-existing regulatory mechanism.

Meanwhile, the government also informed that it had received 170 fresh proposals of FDI in 2015 (till date) which is a direct 11.7 percent increase from 2014 when it had received 150 proposals.

While 85 proposals have been approved and 31 rejected, rest of the proposals have been deferred.

Sitharaman also noted that the entire range of rail infrastructure was opened to 100 percent FDI under the automatic route, and in defence, sectoral cap was raised to 49 percent.

"To boost infrastructure creation and to bring pragmatism in the policy, the government reviewed the FDI policy in the construction development sector also by creating easy exit norms, rationalising area restrictions and providing due emphasis to affordable housing," she added.

Interestingly, the data showed there were higher FDI inflows during the year 2012 and 2013 when the United Progressive Alliance government was in power.