The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), headed by Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, has cleared 18 FDI proposals which include Cadila Healthcare and Tata Global Beverages. The inter ministerial agency considered 41 FDI proposals. However, FIPB has deferred 10 foreign direct investment proposals.
Recently, Government cleared proposals worth Rs 981.15 crore following recommendations for the same by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Of total, the proposal related to telecom and broadcasting sector, entails investment worth Rs 963 crore. Total proposals worth Rs 981.15 crore include Hathway Cable and Data Com, which got approval for increasing foreign investment limit for FIIs and FPIs, among others under the portfolio investment scheme from the current 49% of its issued and fully paid up share capital to 74 %. Moreover, Hyderabad-based Celon Laboratories too has got permission for downstream investment in a brown field pharma company. The investment has been estimated at Rs 16 crore.
FDI is permitted in most of the sectors through automatic route, but the segments which are considered sensitive for economy need to be first cleared from FIPB. The FIPB can recommend foreign investment proposals of up to Rs 3,000 crore to the finance minister for approval and the proposals worth above that is referred to CCEA. FDI in India in 2014-15 was over $30 billion, up 40 % over $24.29 billion from the previous 2013-14 fiscal.