Tuesday 29 October 2013

Govt approves 13 FDI proposals worth Rs 1,258 crore

The government has cleared 13 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 1,258 crore. Foreign investment is considered crucial for economic development of a country and the government has taken several policy decisions to attract foreign investments in various sectors including telecom, tea, pension and petroleum and natural gas.

Meanwhile, India would require around $1 trillion in the 12th five-year plan (2012-2017), to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as airports, ports and highways to boost growth. Further, a rise in FDI will help support the rupee, which depreciated over 15 percent against US dollar in 2013. Despite the government's various efforts to increase foreign investment, FDI during the April-August period of 2013-14 has grown by a marginal 4 percent to $8.46 billion, from $8.16 billion in the first five months of 2012-13, reflecting the need to take more measures to improve the business environment in the country.

Among the major proposals, which have been approved are Shantha Biotechnics (Rs 755 crore), Equitas Holdings (Rs 222.8 crore) and Stork Titanium (Rs 156 crore) among others. Referring to private sector lender Axis Bank’s FDI proposal, finance ministry said that the proposal of Axis Bank, amounting to Rs 6,265.76 crore has been recommended for consideration of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) as the investment involved in the application is above Rs 1,200 crore. The private sector lender Axis Bank had sought the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) nod to increase the foreign equity from the existing 49 per cent to 62 percent.

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