Eighteen of 30 product categories proposed by Swedish furniture major struck off.
Country's largest realty firm DLF, which has tied up with Dubai-based developer Limitless for developing Rs 60,000-crore (Rs 600 billion) township in Bangalore, has sought government approval for bringing in foreign direct investments worth $ 150 million. Official sources said the issue would be taken by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on Friday, adding it is likely to get approval. The foreign investment proposal would be given the final clearance by the FM.
Anand Sharma said the Rs 2,060-crore Jet-Etihad deal falls in line with new 'control' definition.
After approving 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, the CoS is said to have suggested stringent conditions for foreign retailers such as minimum investment of $100 million.
The campaign will be launched in global as well as domestic markets across the media.
At the same time, Indian companies with a majority foreign shareholding could find it difficult to make 'downstream' investments since the new guidelines do not distinguish between different forms of capital and treats them as FDI. So, a company with high non-FDI foreign capital was considered an Indian entity. Now, they will be considered foreign-owned and their downstream investments will have to follow sectoral restrictions.
Etihad and Qatar Airways have held informal talks with Kingfisher and SpiceJet to expand their footprints in India.
It also plans to open 5 new centres across India in addition to its two fulfilment centres (FCs) in Mumbai and Bangalore.
He said with an aim to make the FDI policy user friendly, all prior regulations and guidelines have been consolidated into a comprehensive document.
Foreign investment in news channels includes FDI, FII, External Commercial Borrowings and investment by NRIs.
India currently allows up to 100 per cent FDI in this sector, but the health ministry has moved a draft note for the cabinet to ban foreign investment in this sector
Under the present dispensation, a foreign player who entered India before January 12, 2005 has to take government approval and 'demonstrate' that fresh investment in the same field would not affect interest of his domestic joint venture partner.
Mamata Banerjee, Chief minister of West Bengal and an important ally of the UPA government has given go-ahead to the Foreign Direct Investment in the aviation sector, according to a source in her government in Kolkata.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India rose 54.8 per cent in November to $1.64 billion compared with $1.06 billion a year ago, a government statement
In a reversal of its recommendations made in April 2008, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India whittled the increase it had suggested then in the foreign direct investment cap for companies set up to uplink television news channels, as well as in FM radio.
All foreign equity investments in stock exchanges prior to their listings will be treated as foreign direct investment, where 26 per cent is expected to be the cap.
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 sharp rally in the markets thus far in fiscal 2023-24 (FY24) has left analysts struggling to find investment-worthy themes. The S&P BSE Sensex has surged nearly 7 per cent thus far in FY24 and hit a fresh 52-week high of 63,601.71 levels on June 22, mostly led by foreign institutional (FII) flows. "The Indian market has seen a broad rally in the past few months but headline indices have seen more modest performance. "We are not very clear about the reasons for the rally and the divergent performance and struggle to find ideas in the consumption, investment and outsourcing sectors after the sharp run-up in several of our favored sectors and stocks in the past two months," wrote Sanjeev Prasad, co-head, Kotak Institutional Equities, in a recent co-authored note with Anindya Bhowmik and Sunita Baldawa.
The government is confident of meeting the fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and the nominal GDP target of 10.5 per cent despite pressure in the initial months of FY24, Economic Affairs secretary Ajay Seth told Business Standard. Normally the initial months of any financial year see proportionally a higher fiscal deficit because the expenditure is evenly paced while revenue picks up in the later months, he said. "This year the proportional fiscal deficit so far is much closer to the target than in most other years.
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.
Equity investors will track the trading activity of foreign investors, global trends and ongoing earnings results for further cues, and benchmark indices may continue to witness consolidation in a holiday-shortened week amid the monthly derivatives expiry, analysts said. Markets fell sharply last week amid massive foreign capital outflows and dismal Q2 earnings so far. Weakness in the markets might continue in the near term amid cautiousness among investors ahead of the US presidential election early next month, an expert said.
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.
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.
FDI inflows into the country have been declining over the past two years despite policy easing in about a dozen sectors.
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.
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.
Gold, forex assets, IT sector, pharma. Devangshu Datta explains why each of these is a good hedge against market shocks at this time.
Various corporate bodies from US and UK had cautioned that such tax proposals could dent India's image as an investment hotspot.
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 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.
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 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.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday seized three offices in a prime location in Mumbai, valued more than Rs 41 crore, as part of a foreign exchange violation probe against a businessman whose name figured in the Panama Papers.
The government has last month significantly liberalised the FDI regime, putting most of the sectors on the automatic route
Bid to plug loopholes that surfaced in Hutch Essar case.
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.
China's FDI growth saw ups and downs in the first 11 months of 2015.
'The move to remove indexation benefits on LTCGs presently available for property, gold, and other unlisted assets may have a negative impact as it directly impacts real estate investors.'
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.
