FDI proposals worth Rs.2,327 cr cleared

The government, on Wednesday, cleared 19 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs.2,326.72 crore. The proposals include those from Walt Disney Company and Reckitt Benckiser India, according to a Finance Ministry release.

The approvals were granted based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held last Friday.

The government gave its nod to the proposal of Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte Ltd, Singapore, to infuse additional capital in UTV Software Communication by way of subscription to equity capital up to Rs.1,100 crore and also make additional investments from time to time.

Reckitt Benckise India received the nod for acquiring 23.72 per cent paid-up share capital of Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare India Limited from its foreign investor, Reckitt Benckiser (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Singapore. This proposal entails an investment of Rs.725 crore.

The FIPB, however, rejected a proposal of Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) for a post-facto approval of the foreign investment made by Alexandra Mauritius prior to the period when FDI in commodity exchanges was brought under the approval route.

The board also rejected the applications of George Institute for Global Health (Hyderabad), BIESSE Manu- facturing Company (Bangalore), and three others. The Finance Ministry release further said that decisions on seven FDI proposals have been deferred. The proposal of the U.K.’s Department for International Development for investment into NEEV Fund, proposed to be registered with SEBI, as an alternative investment fund in the infrastructure sector was also cleared. Other proposals approved include that of TTK Protective Devices (Chennai), BNP Paribas India Holding, Pfizer Limited (Mumbai), News Laundry Media and J2 Global Ireland.