During the month of August 2008, the Union Finance Minister,
Mr. P Chidambaram approved 33 proposals, involving FDI amounting to Rs.1,047.57
crore, in two intervals.
In the first interval, 24 FDI proposals were cleared on 04
August 2008.
The largest proposal approved was of Devas Multimedia for a value of Rs.317.85
crore. The company intends to infuse fresh foreign equity in telecommunication
sector.
The other prominent proposal to receive government approvals
was of Mahle Gmbh, Germany. The company has planned to infuse
Rs.140.92 crore FDI to set up a wholly owned holding company. The Ministry also
cleared the application of Daiichi Sankyo Co, Japan to bring in Rs.104.63 crore of FDI,
to purchase and subscribe to the equity shares and issue of warrants to two
Indian companies ie, Ranbaxy and Ranbaxy-controlled Zenotech.
On 14 August 2008, the Finance Ministry cleared an
additional 9 proposals involving FDI worth Rs.294.46 crore. Of this, the
largest proposal was that of Rio Tinto Singapore Holdings Pte, which is engaged
in the manufacturing of activated alumina. J P Morgan India’s proposal to
subscribe equity shares and to act as an operating cum holding company for
downstream investments in hotel and hospitality sector was also cleared, with
an FDI worth Rs.99.99 crore.
Seventeen proposals were deferred during August 2008, on
recommendations of FIPB. These 17 proposals include Dow Europe GMBH, Switzerland’s plans to set up a JV company; NSK
Holdings’ proposal to transfer issue of equity shares and/or compulsory
convertible instruments into equity shares to foreign collaborator. Other
proposals deferred were of Pepsico India Holdings; JSW Infrastructure, Mumbai;
Aditya Birla Telecom; McLeod Russel India, Kolkata; Tutorvista Global, Chennai;
Quippo Telecom and Amar Ujala Publications.
It was reported that four proposals were rejected by the Finance
Ministry. This includes proposal of Forum Synergies India to accept
contributions from the offshore equity under the FDI route and to issue Class B
Units and Class C Units to the offshore equity. EZY Infosoft, Chandigarh plans conversion of operating
company into an operating cum holding company. |