The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Wednesday approved investment proposals of Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz AB and Swiss building materials major Holcim, but was unable to take up Vodafone’s Rs.10,141-crore proposal to acquire its Indian arm for want of comments from ministries.
Decks were cleared for Hennes & Mauritz to invest Rs 720.crore to set up single-brand retail stores in India.
The company will market H&M products through its wholly-owned subsidiary, H&M Retail India Ltd., according to its proposal submitted to the FIPB.
The board cleared Holcim’s proposal to merge holding firm Holcim India with unit Ambuja Cements as part of a plan to restructure its India operations.
“The FIPB has cleared the FDI proposals of H&M and Holcim,” an official said after a meeting of the FIPB headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram.
The FIPB didn’t take up the proposal of British telecom major Vodafone to buy out minority shareholders in its Indian arm.
“All ministries and departments concerned did not give their comments, so the Vodafone proposal was not taken up,” the official said.
The plan will be considered at the next FIPB meeting, for which the date has yet to be finalised, the official said.
CGP India Investments Ltd., an indirect Mauritian subsidiary of Vodafone International Holdings BV, had sought the approval from FIPB to buy the stake held by minority shareholders in Vodafone India Ltd.
Vodafone holds a 64.38 per cent stake in the Indian unit.
The official said the FIPB cleared 14 proposals from 23 items on Wednesday’s agenda.
While the proposal of Viacom 18 Media was cleared, a decision on Veriant Systems’s proposal was deferred as the Ministry of Defence’s comment was awaited.
