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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, Sep 12: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) today cleared foreign direct investments (FDI) worth Rs 760 crore, including that of American company, AES Transpower, Bharti Internet, Honda Siel and GE Lighting.
AES, the highest bidders in the Orissa Power Corporation project, had asked for approval to set up a wholly owned subsidiary with an investment of Rs 4.2 crore, FIPB sources said here. The FIPB, however, deferred a proposal by Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries (UB) to restructure its equity for four weeks following a request from the finance ministry. "Department of Economic Affairs wanted more time to study the proposal as it involved Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and RBI clearances," Industry Secretary and FIPB Chairman T R Prasad said after the meeting.
"We are waiting for the comments of SEBI and RBI," he said. UB had sought FIPB clearance for Mallya buying 50 lakh convertible warrants from McDowells. This would have increased the stake of Mallya in the companyto 24 per cent. The proposal of Bharti Internet to provide multimedia, internet and website communication services with an equity limit of 49 per cent was also cleared. The company will invest Rs 10 crores initially which will go up to three million pounds over a period of time.
Fiat India’s proposal to set up a paint shop either through American company PPG or any of its group companies with a 100 per cent equity was also cleared. The company will bring in FDI to the tune of Rs 43 crore in the project.
Japanese auto giant, Honda’s proposal to hike its stake in its joint venture — Honda SIEL by five per cent to 95 per cent was also cleared. This will facilitate Honda to bring in more money in the interim period amounting to Rs 180 crore.
The FIPB also cleared the proposal of Spanish floatglass firm, Securit Saint Gobain to increase it equity to 80 per cent from 51 per cent at present. GE Lighting’s proposal to hike its equity to $ 50 million from $ 40 million was also cleared today.
Mauritius-basedArmess Finance Ltd’s proposal to set up telecom gateway and for marketing satellite telephone services with an investment of Rs 49.4 crore was also cleared. The equity of the company will be limited to 49 per cent under the policy of Department of Telecommunications. The proposal of Shristi Videocorp, which sought permission for a 20 per cent non-resident Indian (NRI) investment, amounting to Rs 2.4 crore, was also cleared.
Information and broadcasting ministry supported the proposal subject to the condition that they would not telecast from India without necessary permission. At present, the company uplinks from Singapore for its Gujarati channel.
Allianz Alpic Industrial Risk Management Services’ proposal to invest Rs 62.5 crore with an equity of 51 % was also cleared. Allianz Aktien Gesellschaft of Germany and MMI of Austria will be the foreign partners and Alpic Finance is the Indian partner in the venture that would provide risk management and loss control services. FIPB also cleared sevenproposals in electronics and software sector amounting to total FDI investments of Rs 23.6 crore. GDA Technologies will invest Rs 70 lakhs and has projected a total foreign exchange earnings of Rs 11.82 crore in the next five years.
Atlantic Duncans International would invest an amount of $ two million and the foreign exchange earning has been projected at $ five million.
