The government has approved a proposal of British luxury apparel brand Burberry to set up a joint venture in India for single brand retailing. The 153-year old company, famous for its high-end apparels, like trench coats and mufflers, plans to tie-up with Gurgaon-based fashion retail house Genesis Colors for setting up single brand exclusive retail outlets.
Over 100 questions on various aspects of the case were drafted by investigators which were put to 45-year-old Karti.
The government has merged the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) with the finance ministry to give it a better control over state-owned firms and facilitate its ambitious privatisation programme. Finance ministry will now have six departments while DPE's hereto parent ministry, the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises will now be called the ministry of heavy industries. Previously, the disinvestment ministry - created under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government - was merged with the finance ministry and is now a department under it. Also, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was abolished and administration of foreign investments was given to the finance ministry (FinMin).
Eight FDI proposals worth Rs 1,311.54 crore (Rs 13.11 billion), including that of Norwegian telecom firm Telenor, have been cleared by the government on the basis of FIPB approvals.
A bench headed by Justice R Banumathi rejected the review plea filed by the CBI saying the last year verdict does not suffer from any error apparent warranting its reconsideration.
During the hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the court that it has already filed its reply in the case.
The court directed Chidambaram to cooperate with the ED's investigation.
The 30-share Sensex ended at 26,272 up 125 points and the 50-share Nifty ended at 7,831 up by 35 points.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board seems to have laid to rest the controversy surrounding FDI investments routed via Mauritius.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared global hospitality major Hyatt group's proposal to set up 'Hyatt Place' hotels in the country in a joint venture with realty firm Emaar MGF, with an investment of about Rs 125-150 crore (Rs 1.25-1.5 billion).
Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram were named in the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case on July 19.
The government has cleared 19 foreign investment proposals, including that of Walt Disney Company and Reckitt Benckiser (India), entailing total investment of Rs 2,326.72 crore (Rs 23.26 billion).
The Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, and others, taking cognisance of a recent CBI FIR against them.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday told the Supreme Court that 15 accused, including Chidambaram, his son Karti and some companies have been chargesheeted in the case.
The two companies are hopeful of winning over at least one regulator's go-ahead this week itself for their deal, which happens to be the first FDI by a foreign airline into India.
While the ministry sources clarified that the overall policy for fax editions is still under review, this proposal has been given approval on a case-to-case basis in FIPB's meeting held last week. The proposal was turned down twice earlier pending the review but the company had applied to FIPB under deferred proposal agenda in its meeting on January 9.
The probe agency made the submission in an affidavit filed before Justice A K Pathak, who listed the matter for hearing on August 1 and extended till then the interim protection against arrest granted to Chidambaram on May 31.
However, the bench said Chidambaram is at a liberty to seek remedy in accordance with the law.
Chidambaram's son Karti has been questioned twice by the ED in this case.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has forwarded complaints against duty-free operator Alpha Airports group to the home ministry and the Directorate General of Export Promotion.
The ED said that Chidambaram has remained evasive and therefore grant of pre-arrest bail at this stage would be highly detrimental to the investigation.
The sources said the matter should have been referred to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs as foreign investments above Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) can only be cleared by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by the Prime Minister.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board on Friday cleared 68 per cent foreign shareholding in cellular company Hutchison Essar, including the 10 per cent indirect stake held by Egyptian telecom operator Orascom.
The veteran Congress leader said people asked him why only he had been arrested, but he had no answer.
The Department of Telecom, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Economic Affairs had to give their comments on the proposal, sources said.
"His (Chidambaram) arrest is good news. He is now cornered from all sides," Indrani Mukerjea told reporters in a sessions court where she was produced to attend trial in the case of killing of her daughter Sheena Bora.
Chidambaram, 74, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on August 21 and is lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody in the corruption case.
Approval comes 6 months after Swedish clothing giant applied for India entry; FIPB now to consider on Oct 18.
However, this was subject to conditions like substantial ownership and effective control of the airline being vested in Indian nationals.
The case relates to alleged violation of norms by directors of the aviation company for relaxation of 5/20 rules to get licenses for international operations
The next FIPB meeting slated for July 5, however, does not have a Jet proposal on its agenda.
The CBI had registered an FIR in the case on May 15, 2017 alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister.
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Retail giant Tesco's entry into Indian market has hit a regulatory roadblock.
The FIPB rejected two proposals -- Nigeria's Mokeme Chiwetal Izuchukwu and Lanarth Developers Pvt Ltd.
Rejecting reports of his evading the law, he told reporters that the charges against him and his son were 'nothing further from truth'.
The statements of the Mukerjeas were recorded by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money laundering angle in the case, while the CBI had only recorded Indrani's statement before a magistrate as per section 164 of the CrPC, they said.
The move would help insurance firms to get much needed capital from overseas partners.
India's plans to relax foreign direct investment (FDI) rules across a broad spectrum of industries have received the final approval from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA).
While the FIPB has sought more transparency on whether the rules concerning effective control would be followed once the deal fructifies, the Finance Ministry has also written to Sebi for a report on the Jet-Etihad deal, official sources said Wednesday.
