FIPB clears seven FDI proposals worth Rs.290 crore

The Dollar Business Bureau 

Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has approved seven proposals worth Rs 290 crore in its 238th meeting held in the first week of this month. The Central government has deferred another seven applications and rejected five proposals of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the Union Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Tuesday. 

According to the Ministry, the proposal of Tikona Digital Networks for an FDI of Rs.267 crore in order to increase its foreign equity to 76.73% has been approved by the telecom sector board. The proposals of Reckitt Benckiser, Laurus Labs and Samara Capital have been cleared in the pharma sector, while IMCD Group and Fincare Business Services have received the FIPB nod in trading and finance sectors respectively. 

In the telecom sector, the FIPB has deferred the proposals of Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services and BT Global Communications to increase the FDI up to 67.5% and 100% respectively. The FDI applications of Celon Laboratories, Quintillion Business Media and two financial services firms - HSBC Securities and Morgan Stanley - have also been deferred by the board. 

The government has rejected the proposal of Sanofi-Synthelabo to merge two foreign-owned Indian pharma companies into itself. Another pharma company Baxter India’s application for fresh FDI against issue of equity shares to a non-resident group company has been rejected by the FIPB. The board has also not approved the applications of Crown Cement Manufacturing India, Oxigen Services and EXFO Asia Pacific. 

The Indian government allows FDI in all sectors mostly through the automatic route. But in certain sensitive segments of the economy, the foreign investment proposals have to be approved by the FIPB which offers a single window clearance to all FDI proposals in the country.