Govt. Clears 20 FDI Proposals Worth Rs 916 Crore

The government is surely not losing any opportunity to earn precious foreign currency. The Finance Ministry has been vetting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals on a war footing, which says a lot about the government’s urgency in the matter.

In line with this, the Government of India today approved 20 FDI proposals worth Rs 915.83 crore. These proposals were recommended by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its October 24 meeting. Prominent among the approvals was that for Singapore Airlines – a Rs 303.18 crore proposal to set up a 49:50 JV for domestic and international passenger airlines in India. Another Rs 1400 crore FDI proposal of Federal Bank has been referred to the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA), whose meeting will take place soon.

Singapore Airlines’ proposal was long awaited. Tata Sons will be the 51 per cent partner in the airlines venture, while SA will hold 49 per cent stake. After this approval, the JV can commence operations as a full service passenger airline in the country. Apart from this, other key proposals cleared include a Rs 179.43 crore proposal of Religare Enterprises for a Warrants issue to carry out the business of investment advisory services and financial consultancy and to make holding investments in the NBFC sector. It also includes a Rs 225 crore proposal of Intas Pharmaceuticals to issue fresh equity shares to eligible non-resident investors in a book-building IPO and an OFS by an existing foreign investor. Pharma company Parrigo API India’s Rs 130 crore proposal to increase foreign equity participation and JM Financial’s proposal for a Warrants issue have also been cleared.

The government has put proposals of DLF’s developers for the exit of foreign investors and SingTel Global for the increase of equity participation of foreign investor in abeyance. However, two proposals of Cygnus Medicare and Mordril Properties have been deferred, while the proposals of Big India Malls and Indostar Capital were rejected.