Industry Minister Murasoli Maran also cleared proposal of Bharati TeleSpatial Ltd to set up a company to participate in telecom ventures in thecountry with a foreign investment of Rs 43 crore, an official statement saidon Wednesday.

The foreign partner would hold 20 per cent stake in Bharati Tele Spatial Ltd.Among the cases cleared, on the recommendations of Foreign InvestmentPromotion Board (FIPB), was a proposal of Infotech Enterprises Ltd toincrease the foreign equity from 12 per cent to 26 per cent.

Infotech Enterprises, engaged in a wide range of services from softwaredevelopment to Internet applications, would infuse a foreign investment ofRs 34.15 crore to increase the stake.

The minister cleared the proposal of travel goods major Samsonite toincrease its stake in its Indian venture from 60 per cent to 65 per cent.There will be no additional foreign investment flow from the stake hike asit would be done on a reduced paid-up capital.

Johnson Matthey India Pvt Ltd got the green signal to set up a manufacturingfacility for catalytic converters for cars and two-wheelers. Johnson Mattheywould infuse a foreign investment of Rs 8.53 crore for the purpose.

The industry minister also cleared proposal of US-based GrolierInternational Inc to set up a 100 per cent owned publishing and distributionfirm for educational and reference books in the country. Groiler would bringRs 86 lakhs for the purpose.

Maran also cleared setting up of 11 wholly-owned software developmentcompanies, including Sipix Imaging, Lucigenic, Quark Infrastructure,Broadcom India and Gandour India.

The proposal of Trident Netcom Solutions to start up an Internet serviceprovider in the country with 49 per cent foreign holding was also cleared.Among other proposals cleared were two by Synergies Doorway Automotive Ltdto manufacture chrome-plated wheels, aluminium alloy wheels and DartIndustries Inc for setting up a wholly-owned facility for manufacture ofnon-SSI injection moulded products.

The foreign partner would infuse Rs 10.22 crore into Synergies Doorway topick up 1 per cent, while Dart would invest Rs 8.40 crore to set up thefacility.

The proposal of US-based Cone Mills Corp to set up a company in India forsourcing readymade garments from small scale sector to foreign markets wasalso cleared.

Cone would invest Rs 1.70 crore to pick up 40 per cent in the venture.