Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh D Ambani on Wednesday said the latest reforms and relief measures will enable the telecom sector to achieve goals set under the Digital India mission. The Cabinet has announced several reforms for the telecom sector, including redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) that will now include revenues earned only from telecom services. The government calculates various levies on AGR. "The telecom sector is one of the prime movers of the economy and the key enabler for making India a Digital Society, I welcome the Government of India's announcement of reforms and relief measures that will enable the industry to achieve the goals of Digital India. I thank Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) for this bold initiative," Ambani said.
The government on Monday cleared 18 foreign direct investment proposals involving Rs 118.93 crore including Standard Chartered Private Equity's plan to pick up 14.35 per cent stake in NDTV for Rs 52.88 crore.
Industry favours a hike in foreign direct investment cap, a single regulator for insurance and pension sector and long-term debt papers among other reform measures to boost growth in the insurance segment, a FICCI survey said on Tuesday.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist would use "all options" available in the rules of business in Parliament to thwart government's attempts to implement foreign direct investment in retail, even as it welcomed the decision to hold debate on the issue in both Houses under rules entailing voting, a top leader said on Thursday.
The Singapore subsidiary of the UK-based GlaxoSmithKline plans to buy 24.33 per cent stake or 2.06 crore equity shares in GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd through an open offer.
At present, the Insurance Bill is under the consideration of Select Committee of Parliament.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the United States exceeding $1.7 trillion in the last one decade has created more than five million jobs in the US.
India's foreign direct investment is expected to rise substantially from this month with the Reserve Bank of India incorporating many new components in the FDI basket in line with international practices.
Traders' body CAIT on Thursday urged the government to impose a ban on Amazon's e-commerce portal and its operations in India, accusing the global e-tailing giant of indulging in predatory pricing, deep discounting and inventory control. Addressing a press conference, CAIT secretary-general Praveen Khandelwal demanded an "immediate ban on Amazon's portal and its operations in India" and an investigation against the company in a time-bound manner. He also urged the government to probe the business practices of Amazon and Flipkart. However, responding to the allegations, both Amazon and Flipkart said they remain compliant with Indian laws.
The revised version of the FDI policy, which will be released on March 31, is expected to do away with Press Note 1, 2005, to bring in the above-mentioned change.
A Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday recommended a composite foreign investment cap of 49 per cent in the insurance sector and supported a government Bill to amend the Act.
Reliance Lifestyle is an arm of Reliance Retail, a leading domestic player in the organised retail space.
Foreign direct investment into India increased to $7.5 billion in 2005-06, up 41.5 per cent from the previous fiscal's $5.3 billion.
In a dramatic turn of events in May 2019, an Emirates aircraft en-route to Dubai was asked to stop while it was taxiing for a take off in Mumbai. The pilot was given no reason and ordered to immediately return to the parking bay. As the aircraft returned to the terminal, two passengers from the first class - Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita - were offloaded by the immigration authorities, who said the duo cannot leave the country. Goyal, founder of Jet Airways, was stunned. The man, who ruled the aviation sector for two and a half decades with an iron hand, did not expect to be offloaded in this fashion.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in the past has raised concerns on increasing FDI in telecom sector.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat also reminded the government that it should not think of bringing back FDI in retail sector after the winter session of Parliament and his party will unite with other forces to oppose any such move.
The government on Wednesday permitted NRIs to invest up to 100 per cent stake in disinvestment-bound Air India. The decision comes at a time when the government has sought preliminary bids for 100 per cent stake sale in the national carrier. "Today's decision on Air India is one milestone decision where NRIs... will get permission to invest 100 per cent in the airline," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters at a briefing about the Union Cabinet's decision.
CAIT had last month also filed a petition in National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the Competition Commission of India's decision to approve the deal.
Foreign direct investment in India may erode sharply from the record $42 billion in 2008 with trans-national corporations going slow on expansion plans following the global financial meltdown, says an UNCTAD report.
The government has cleared 408 foreign direct investment proposals involving Rs 3,025 crore (Rs 30.25 billion) in the first half of this fiscal, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
The government on Monday said it was considering a total of five foreign investment proposals, including that of Jagran Prakashan Pvt Ltd and Times Journal India, in the news and current affairs publications and technical and scientific journals.
The government said on Thursday it will bring a legislation next month to increase foreign direct investment in insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent at present.
A proposal by Damas LLC to set up a joint venture with Gitanjali Lifestyles for retail trading of jewelleries will bring in FDI of Rs 180 crore (Rs 1.8 billion), while Danone's plans for food products business do not have any definite FDI content as company for this purpose is yet to be incorporated.
The proposals were considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board at its meeting held on July 4.
Foreign companies eyeing the India's buoyant markets in a host of sectors such as retail would have to wait a little longer as the government has decided to postpone changes in FDI norms by about a month.
Whatever the critics may say, the numbers suggest that India continues to be a favourite destination for foreign investors.
The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has searched the Bengaluru-located office and residential premises of Edtech major BYJU's and its CEO and co-founder Raveendran Byju and seized 'incriminating' documents and digital data as part of a foreign exchange violation probe.
'You have to be a total anti-national bozo to shut down the Nokia plant in Sriperumbudur, which was the first large manufacturing plant for mobile phones in India.' 'Why was the unit shut down? Because of somebody's ego.'
The government expects foreign direct investment into India to cross $7 billion in 2005-06, with auto and mining sectors expected to attract huge funds.
Kohler made the comments on aviation industry-wide speculation about New Delhi increasing FDI in defence sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent, with some expecting an announcement in the near future.
With the Russia-Ukraine war roiling financial markets globally, the government may defer the mega IPO of LIC and wait for an opportune time to get the maximum value of its holding in the state-owned insurance behemoth, sources said. "It's a full blown war now so we will have to assess the situation for going ahead with the LIC IPO," a government source said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, too, had indicated review of the IPO in view of the evolving geopolitical situation.
The cable industry, which reaches over 80 million out of India's 130 million TV-owning homes, is getting ready to strongly oppose the government's move to raise the foreign direct investment limit for direct-to-home service providers from 49 to 74 per cent without doing the same for cable companies.
The FIPB rejected two proposals -- Nigeria's Mokeme Chiwetal Izuchukwu and Lanarth Developers Pvt Ltd.
FIPB has deferred 18 proposals.
Fintech and venture capital firms such as Recur Club, Razorpay and Trifecta Capital have come to the aid of homegrown start-ups caught in the crossfire of the Silicon Valley Bank fiasco. Alternative funding platform Recur Club said it was allocating $15 million to all Indian founders affected by the crisis. It will not charge any platform fee for the same.
'There is a certain irony embedded in this asymmetric geographical distribution of FDI because most state leaders have shed their inhibitions about promoting 'business' and have understood its virtues as a more cost-effective way of replacing the mai-baap welfarism that passed for economic policy till the early nineties', says Kanika Datta.
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