Govt clears 21 FDI proposals, defers 14, rejects 7

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Dr Reddy's files for marketing Lipitor genericFreddie Mac posts $5 bn loss

New Delhi: Government cleared 21 FDI proposals worth Rs 84.90 crore, most of which is likely to be brought in by the world's largest chemical company BASF through an open offer.

The Government, on the recommendation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, however, deferred 14 proposals including that of Vijay Mallya-run United Breweries to raise Rs 708 crore through issuing convertible warrants.

A proposal by venture fund India Rizing Fund to reconsider its application to set up a fund for the Indian defence sector in the light of new norms for FDI calculation was also deferred.

As many as seven proposals, including those of three telecom majors Bharti Telemedia, Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo, were rejected by the Government.

A proposal by Germany-based BASF SE to make an open offer for acquiring a 20 per cent stake in chemcial manufacturer Ciba India may bring in Rs 63 crore.

The acquisition follows global acquisition of Ciba Holding AG by BASF.

Through the Indian acquisition, the German company will manufacture and trade in speciality chemicals.

The Ciba India share was down 0.94 per cent to close at Rs 210 on BSE on Wednesday.

The government also gave the nod to Vodafone Essar, the second-largest GSM operator, to hive off its towers and related infrastructure into a separate arm Ortus Infratel.

Earlier, Vodafone Essar's plans to create Ortus Infratel was deferred after the revenue department had raised concerns over the company's application.

The Government cleared the proposal by venture capital fund -- Ventureast Trustee Company Ltd -- to accept contributions up to 2 million dollars from Mauritius-based Ventureast Proactive Fund.

The fund will invest in securities of Indian companies and also distribute income realised to the Mauritius-based company under the automatic route.

A proposal by UB Group to raise Rs 708 crore by issuing convertible warrants to FirStart Inc was deferred after the Department of Revenue raised objections to it.

Also deferred was a proposal by Zee Entertainment to transfer shares to an overseas entity belonging to the promoter group for uplinking a non-news and current affairs TV channel.

A proposal by venture fund India Rizing Fund to launch the Defence SME Scheme to invest in radars, military aircraft, helicopters serial reconnaissance, naval ships, etc was deferred.

Earlier, the Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy has conveyed its no objection to the proposal if the fund is controlled by resident Indians and foreign contribution to it is less than 50 per cent of the total.