Government okays 13 foreign investment proposals

September 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Commodity exchanges in which foreign holding has exceeded permissible levels will get time till March to bring down the excess foreign holding, the government said Wednesday. The earlier deadline ended Sep 30.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Tuesday approved nine foreign investment proposals worth Rs.74.61 crore on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). However, the board rejected the proposal of Goldman Sachs for waiving off the Press Note 1 that stipulates government approval for new foreign investment proposals or technical collaboration where the foreign investor already has a joint venture in the same or allied field.

September 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Thursday approved eight foreign investment proposals amounting to Rs.1.31 crore, while deferring decision on seven others and rejecting another. Among the approved proposals, only two have fresh investment inflows: Rs.1.28 crore by telecom equipment manufacturer Tecnotree Convergence, and Rs.300,000 by power equipment maker Powermax Communications, according to data released by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

August 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Tuesday deferred foreign investment proposals of two telecom companies - Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) and ByCell Telecommunication - citing security reasons. ByCell's proposal to start operations in India has been deferred due to security reasons, an official statement said.

August 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Tuesday cleared 10 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs.1,123 crore ($230.5 billion), including one by DishTV to raise Rs.750 crore through convertible bonds. Vijay Mallya-promoted United Breweries' proposal to issue convertible warrants worth Rs.219 crore also got the Foreign Investment Promotion Board's (FIPB) approval.

July 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in the first two months this fiscal touched $4.43 billion even as the world was embroiled in a financial crisis, the government said Wednesday. "Despite the economic slowdown, FDI inflow showed a growth of 11 percent to $27.31 billion in 2008-09 compared to $24.58 billion in the previous fiscal," a government statement said.

July 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Friday cleared 16 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals valued at Rs.891.71 crore, the bulk of them for by a power project, the government said Friday. The proposals were cleared on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which met here July 10, a finance ministry statement said.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Wednesday approved 21 foreign investment proposals amounting to Rs.84.9 crore ($17.78 million). Prominent among the proposals approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is one by Germany's BASF, which plans to invest Rs.63 crore to manufacture speciality chemicals and trade in commoditised products.

June 2nd, 2009 SHIMLA - The Himachal Pradesh government has cleared nine industrial proposals worth Rs.256.99 crore, including one of Essar Group, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here Tuesday. "We have cleared proposals of nine industrial houses, including Essar Group, Paragon Knits, Gujarat Flour Chemical, UB Biscuits and Wind Turbine Equipment," he told reporters.

April 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has cleared 22 foreign investment proposals worth Rs.541 crore, including a Rs.237.2-crore project of Mumbai-based telecom company Tikona Digital Networks, the finance ministry said Monday. Kolkata-based water infrastructure company Electrosteel Castings and Anant Raj Industries are also among the companies whose projects got the government nod.

March 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A proposal from top international events broadcaster Neo Sports and another from the US construction equipment giant John Deere were among 26 applications for foreign investment worth Rs.1,043 crore (nearly $200 million) approved by the government. Neo Sports seeks to induct foreign equity worth Rs.258.53 crore in its Mumbai-based arm that is engaged in uplinking and broadcast of non-news and current affairs programmes.

March 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A proposal from global hospitality major Accor to set up budget hotels in India is among the 28 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs.6.16 billion (Rs.616.08 crore/$119 million) cleared by the government, an official statement said Wednesday. Accor, which has 4,000 hotels across the world from economy to upscale, has made an investment of Rs.3.66 billion to develop and manage budget hotels under the name 'Formule 1'.

February 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has rationalised the foreign investment norms as there is a tightening in the global markets, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said here Thursday. 'Government has rationalised calculation of FDI (foreign direct investment).

January 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A proposal from Dow Jones to publish facsimile editions of its newspapers and magazines like The Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review, are among 30 others approved by the government, an official statement said Wednesday. The proposals approved include those from Morgan Stanley, CMS Computers and Bridgestone and are collectively expected to bring in foreign exchange worth Rs.12.78 billion (Rs.

January 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a move that will pave the way for facsimile editions of leading global media brands like The Wall Street Journal, the government Wednesay formally notified its decision to allow 100 percent foreign equity for publishers interested in publishing international dailies in India. In the case of facsimile editions of foreign newspapers, 100 percent foreign equity has been permitted with prior approval of the government - provided the investment is by the original foreign publisher, the commerce ministry said in a statement.