The Central Government on Tuesday approved 16 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs.923.55 crore including those of Star New Boradcasting and L&T Finance Holdings. It rejected seven proposals. According to an official statement issued here, a total of 38 FDI proposals were taken up by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), but the board deferred a decision on 14 applications, rejected seven and recommended one for the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Approval was given to Soma Tollways Pvt Ltd (Andhra Pradesh) for induction of foreign equity in an investing company. The proposal is likely to bring in FDI worth Rs.500 crore. L&T Finance Holdings's application for permission for pre-IPO placement of equity shares with eligible non-resident investors was also approved by the FIPB. The firm aims at FDI worth Rs.400 crore.
The FIPB also approved the Star News Broadcasting's (Touch Tele Content (I) Ltd) proposal for induction of foreign capital. The other major proposals that were cleared by the FIPB include those of Global Gourmet (Gujarat), Park Controls & Communications Ltd (Bangalore) and Centum Electronics Ltd (Bangalore).
However, the FIPB deferred a decision on applications by Indian Rotorcraft (Mumbai) for induction of foreign equity and Precision Electronics to undertake the additional activity in the defence sector. Decisions on the proposals of BNP Paribas S.A. (Paris), Sightlife USA, Southern CNG Automobiles and Natixis Global Asset Management (France), among others, were also deferred.
The proposals which were rejected include those of Reynders Label Printing India (Delhi and Haryana), Anuradha Holdings (Bangalore) and AOS Holding India SAS (France). Two proposals — PTC India Financial Services (Delhi, Haryana) and Tata Steel — were withdrawn from the FIPB agenda on the request of the applicants.
The proposal, which was recommended to the CCEA, was of Cals Refineries Ltd (Delhi and Haryana) to issue equity shares in the form of GDRs against supply of refinery equipment. The proposal is likely to bring in FDI worth Rs.1,425 crore.
FDI into the country had declined to $19.43 billion (about Rs.88,520 crore) in 2010-11 from $25.83 billion (about Rs.1.23-lakh crore) in the previous fiscal, a decline of 25 per cent.
