The government has cleared the decks for 19 foreign investment proposals, including that of Walt Disney Company and Reckitt Benckiser (India), entailing total investment of Rs 2,326.72 crore. The approvals were granted on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on June 11.
While, the government gave a green signal to proposal of Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte, Singapore for infusing additional capital in UTV Software Communication by way of subscription to equity capital up to Rs 1,100 crore and also making additional investments from time to time, Reckitt Benckise (India)’s proposal entailing Rs 725 crore of investment, too was approved by the government. Reckitt Benckise (India) will acquire 23.72% paid up share capital of Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare India from its foreign investors Reckitt Benckiser (Singapore) Pte, Singapore.
Further, the proposal of Department for International Development, UK for investment into NEEV Fund, proposed to be registered with the SEBI, as a Category I Alternative Investment Fund- Infrastructure Fund also was cleared by the government. Meanwhile, companies’ proposals which were cleared included, TTK Protective Devices (Chennai), BNP Paribas India Holding, Pfizer Limited (Mumbai), News Laundry Media, J2 Global Ireland, Morgan Stanley Global Services Mauritius (Mauritius) and Brightstar Infrastructure (Mumbai).
However, FIPB rejected five FDI projects, with first investment proposal being that 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 approval route. Besides, it also rejected foreign investment application of George Institute for Global Health (Hyderabad), BIESSE Manufacturing Company (Bangalore) and three others. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry deferred decisions on seven FDI proposals, including that of Ahlcon Parenterals (India) (pharmaceutical sector), Indian Rotorcraft (defence) and UBM Medica India (print media) among others.