NEW DELHI, February 27: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has given its green signal to Matsushita Electric of Japan to raise its stake in National Panasonic India to 100 per cent from the present level of 80 per cent.Similarly, Akai Electric Company of Japan has also decided to increase its equity in the Mumbai-based Baron International to 40 per cent from the present 10 per cent. Akai is planning to increase its stake at a substantial premium through a preference share issue, officials said.Matsushita currently owns 80 per cent in National Panasonic, while the balance 20 per cent is equally held by the Khaitan-Jiwarajka family and Matsushita's three joint ventures in India.The Japanese major had applied last month to the government to buy out the stake of its Indian collaborators, following differences over running the company. The Khaitan-Jiwarajka family holds the 10 per cent stake in National Panasonic through their own investment companies. The family is also the promoter of SaloraInternational which has a joint venture with Matsushita Electric Company.Matsushita's other joint ventures - Indo-Matsushita Appliances, Indo-Matsushita Carbon and Indo-National hold the 10 per cent. Indo Matsushita is engaged in the manufacture of rice cookers under the National brand name while Indo-Matsushita manufactures carbon rods. The third joint venture, Indo-National, is engaged in the manufacture of batteries. National Panasonic markets and distributes products manufactured by Matsushita's subsidiaries.Baron International officials say that discussions are underway and a final decision on exact stake hike would be taken soon. ``The auditors are still working out the pricing of the shares,'' sources said.At present, the Mulchandanis hold 62-63 per cent stake in the equity of the company, while Akai has 10 per cent. The rest of the equity is held by Prime Securities, Bajaj Auto and friends and associates of the Mulchandanis. The holding of all Indian partners are expected to come down.Thefresh infusion of fund would be deployed for various expansions planned by the company. Baron International is a closely-held unlisted company with equity base of Rs 100 crore.The FIPB which met on Thursday has, however, rejected six foreign collaboration proposals including Srishti Communications, Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society, Caspian Broking India, Arthur Fischer GmbH and Bowrhedrive Ltd. As many as 32 proposals were deferred by the board which took up a record number of 135-odd proposals. The meeting of the board was held after a gap of nearly a month.The major ones among the deferred proposals are: IL& FS Stock Brokings Investment Co Ltd, IL & FS and Guardian Royal Exchange Plc.
