Putting an end the long pending issue of relaxing FDI policy in print media, the government has finally decided not to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) limit on newspapers and periodicals to 49 percent from the current 26 percent. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) who was looking at the proposal after being asked by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), ruled against such an increase of FDI cap in print media sector and reportedly said that a "considered view" was taken against increasing the FDI cap in print media sector
The move to raise FDI limit was aimed at attracting more foreign funds and the issue of relaxing the FDI cap in print media came up for discussions last November as well as during the recent liberalisation of the norms in June and both times it was decided not to tweak the caps. At present, the FDI policy permits 26% FDI in the publishing of newspapers and periodicals dealing with news and current affairs through government approval route.
Recently, the government had announced a series of changes in its FDI policy, opening sectors like pharmaceuticals industry, civil aviation, animal husbandry, and e-commerce related to food products manufactured in India and broadcast technology such as DTH, cable and mobile television to 100% FDI. During 2015-16, FDI into the country increased by 29 percent to $40 billion from $30.93 billion in the previous fiscal.
