Four proposals by foreign firms deferred; half a dozen others waiting in the wings.
Regulator puts price at average of 1.65 times 3G cost; Sibal's approval needed for rollout.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has rejected a proposal by Mauritius-based Axiata Investments 2 India Ltd, part of Asian telecom giant Axiata Group, to increase its stake in Idea Cellular by acquiring shares from the stock exchange.
The approval will, however, be subject to the regular conditions on valuation and pricing norms laid down by the Reserve Bank of India.
A rollback or dilution of the policy is not the only fear these multinationals have; they are also facing upfront political opposition.
Retailers need to get up to 50 permissions from a state government before they can start a new store. And, the permissions required include things like valet parking, use of insecticides, chillers and freezers or sale of non-vegetarian processed food.
The joint letter to Manmohan Singh was written by Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla group which has promoted Idea Cellular, and Vittoria Colao, chairman of Vodafone Group Plc.
The country's largest car maker has come under the spotlight for working out a quiet settlement with union leader Sonu Gujjar and other workers by paying them Rs 16 lakh (Rs 1.6 million) each, much more than they would have got under a normal severance package or voluntary retirement scheme.
DoT has stated in an internal note that the 3G roaming agreements between these three companies are tantamount to their becoming mobile virtual network operators, something not allowed under the current policy.
Proposes conversion of Rs 1 lakh crore cumulative losses into bonds or loans.
According to a senior company official, BSNL is in the process of appointing recovery agents on a commission basis to bring back the money.
The Department of Telecommunications is planning to give more powers to the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, in the new telecom policy, including the power to impose financial penalties on the erring telecom service providers.
British consumer goods major Reckitt Benckiser, which bought over local start-up Paras Pharmaceuticals for a staggering Rs 3,260 crore (Rs 32.6 billion) last year, is converting its acquired Baddi plant in Himachal Pradesh into a global hub for manufacturing over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products.
The New Telecom policy 2011 and the Spectrum Act are expected to address these concerns.
Airports authority demands Leela fork out 7.5% of gross turnover of Mumbai hotel as royalty.
India had threatened to stop Swiss, which, as the designated airline of that country, 'violated' a vital clause called the substantial ownership and effective control, mandated under the bilateral air services agreement between the two countries.
The exercise is ostensibly for security reasons and to prevent misuse of the freedom of speech in cyberspace.
The new telecom policy-2011 is also expected to come out with new norms for mergers and acquisitions, enhancing rural coverage, and spectrum allocation, among other things.
This means the regulator can bring rates under regulation once again. Currently, the rates are determined by market forces.
New policy to give greater flexibility to foreign players.
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