The Centre on Thursday cleared 14 Foreign Direct Investment proposals worth Rs 1,257 crore, including those of Mauritius-based Essar Telecom Holdings Ltd and US-based Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The proposals include induction of foreign equity worth Rs 500 crore by Essar Telecom Holdings and Rs 200 crore from GSAM. The investment proposals were cleared by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
The BJP lost 15 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Union ministers have been deployed in all 15, tasked with turning the result around.
The government on Friday hiked foreign investment ceiling in private banks from 49 to 74 per cent and allowed foreign banks to set up subsidiaries in the country.
Gold, forex assets, IT sector, pharma. Devangshu Datta explains why each of these is a good hedge against market shocks at this time.
While raising the foreign direct investment limit to 100 per cent in the single-brand retail segment six months earlier, the government asked retail chains with over 51 per cent foreign investment to source at least 30 per cent of the value of products sold in the country from Indian small/village/cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen.
The government has imposed a service tax of 10.3 per cent on the gross value of tickets of all classes on the domestic flights and economy class on international routes.
FDI inflows into the country have been declining over the past two years despite policy easing in about a dozen sectors.
After topping it for two consecutive years, Gujarat slipped three places on the NITI Aayog's Export Preparedness Index (EPI) for 2022, as Tamil Nadu emerged as the most export-ready state, the central think tank said in its report released on Monday. In a continuing trend, coastal states were found to have the most robust export infrastructure, which officials attributed to the integration of maritime trade into the core of their economies. Maharashtra and Karnataka retained their positions -- second and third, respectively; Haryana was ranked first among landlocked states and fifth overall.
Various corporate bodies from US and UK had cautioned that such tax proposals could dent India's image as an investment hotspot.
While the cumulative FDI inflows of $25.35 billion for April-February 2008-09 were higher than the $20.13 billion a year ago, the country has been witnessing a steep fall in foreign investments since October 2008, according to official figures. In February 2008, the foreign investment was $5.67 billion.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the government is considering further liberalisation of the country's foreign direct investment policy for attracting investment in the infrastructure sector.
The stage is set for foreign investors to invest in India's commodity exchanges. The Manmohan Singh Cabinet will give formal approval this week on allowing foreign investment in commodity exchanges.
Allaying investor fears over the levy of long-term capital gains tax on share transfer in unlisted companies, the government on Friday said the move is only to target 'khoka' companies, and 'genuine investments' in start-ups and through FDI will be exempt.
The government on Friday said it has started implementing liberal FDI rules under which proposals up to Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) foreign equity would be cleared by the Finance Minister without seeking approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
The government has last month significantly liberalised the FDI regime, putting most of the sectors on the automatic route
The Union ministry of consumer affairs has given the finishing touches to the policy framework to allow foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investment in India's national commodity exchanges.
India received $2.21 billion in foreign direct investment in February, showing an annual growth of 74 per cent, taking cumulative inflows to $28.40 billion for the April-February period of the last fiscal.
Bid to plug loopholes that surfaced in Hutch Essar case.
China's FDI growth saw ups and downs in the first 11 months of 2015.
Ananjan Mitter, partner at ALMT Legal, a law firm, has represented Air Charter Service in the venture's application to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, a key wing in the finance ministry that vets foreign direct investments proposals of companies.
The new foreign direct investment guidelines may be revised with respect to the banking sector to avoid an adverse fallout for Indian banks with majority foreign equity.
India's economy is moving towards a higher growth trajectory and is likely to grow at around 10 per cent in 2021-22, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) chairman Bibek Debroy said on Wednesday. "I am confident that we are on a path towards a higher growth trajectory, higher poverty reduction, higher employment, and a prosperous, more developed and better governed India. "I think it is, more or less, agreed that the real rate of growth this year (FY2022) is going to be around 10 per cent," Debroy said at an SBI event. At the beginning of FY2021-22, the forecasts for real growth were in the 8.5-12.5 per cent range, he noted.
After nearly five months wait, the government on Friday cleared UK's BP Plc buying 30 per cent stake in most of Reliance Industries' oil and gas blocks, including the showpiece KG-D6 gas fields, for $7.2 billion.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has said that India is a land of emerging opportunities and the aviation scenario in the country is fast changing and poised for breaking boundaries and scaling new heights.
Seasoned marksman Gagan Narang applauds the systematic selection process, government investment, and improved infrastructure for India's impressive haul of 15 shooting quota places for the Paris Olympics
The flow of foreign direct investment into China, dubbed as the world's factory, continued its slight decline in the first eight months this year.
In July 2011, the country had received foreign investment worth $1.10 billion.
There is a high possibility that one or two Indian airlines might not survive the rough weather.
Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday made a high pitch for American investments in India's power sector.
The growing decline of MTech applicants in Indian colleges is due to multiple factors, including outdated curricula, poor return on investment and lucrative non-engineering alternatives, say experts.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said it is against rushing through the Foreign Direct Investment-related Foreign Exchange Management Act notification in Parliament along with the main debate on the issue.
It's pointless and stupid to allow foreign direct investment in retail and investment, says Jayati Ghosh.
These companies struck joint ventures with foreign partners before the government relaxed FDI sectoral limits by issuing Press Notes 2 and 4 in February this year, and had approached FIPB for approvals later. FIPB sent a note to this effect to the RBI a month ago, advising the central bank to deal with such cases.
The relaxation will apply to those sectors that have composite caps (foreign direct investment or FDI plus FII). "The move will not impact sectors like banking and insurance which are governed by Acts of Parliament. However, sectors with composite caps which see administrative control like telecommunication services, broadcast services like direct-to-home and FM radio will benefit," a Delhi based FDI policy expert told Business Standard.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said 67 per cent of the decline in the foreign exchange reserves since April was due to valuation changes arising from strengthening US dollar and higher American bond yields. The forex reserves, which stood at $606.475 billion as on April 2, have declined to $537.5 billion as on September 23. It was also the eighth straight week when the reserves declined.
"You can't please all people. And the finance minister has done as good a job as was possible," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview with T N Ninan, editorial director and chairman of Business Standard Ltd, on Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Budget proposals in Parliament.
"You can't please all people. And the finance minister has done as good a job as was possible," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview with T N Ninan, editorial director and chairman of Business Standard Ltd, on Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Budget proposals in Parliament.
The government on Wednesday announced the approval of Japan-based Daiichi Sankyo's proposed acquisition of shares in domestic pharma major Ranbaxy, along with 23 other proposals for a total FDI investment of Rs 753.14 crore
Exuding confidence that current account deficit (CAD) will come down to 3.7 per cent of GDP in 2012-13, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said overseas capital flows would be sufficient to bridge the gap in inflow and outflow of foreign funds.
