Govt clears FDI proposals worth Rs 472 cr from 7 media cos

The government has cleared foreign investment proposals of seven media and entertainment companies to bring in Rs 472.48 crore, but deferred a decision on four others, including Zee Entertainment and Jagran Media.

The other two media proposals deferred were from INX Media Pvt Ltd and Sea TV Network Ltd, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The spate of FDI proposals in the Indian media and entertainment arena come at a time when the sector is projected to double to more than $24 billion by 2014, up from $12.9 billion in 2009.

Overall, 17 FDI proposals from various sectors were okayed for bringing in Rs 569.41 crore, while 20 were deferred and nine rejected.

Besides media, quite a few of other proposals deferred were from the booming telecom and technology sectors.

The decisions on foreign investments are based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) at its meeting held on May 31, 2010.

The bulk of the investments cleared were from two media companies -- Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd (HMVL) and Turmeric Vision Pvt Ltd (TVPL).

While HMVL, the publisher of Hindi daily 'Hindustan', will bring Rs 350 crore in foreign investment from FIIs and venture capital funds, TVPL's proposal entails FDI of Rs 122.10 crore for foreign equity in a 24-hour food TV channel.

UTV News Ltd's Rs 34 lakh FDI for up-linking and broadcasting content on its news and current affairs television channel was also cleared by the government.

The other media proposals okayed were those of Haymarket Media to publish specialist magazines (Family Physician and FourFour Two), Mid Day Multimedia, Clear Channel Mumbai Pvt Ltd and Universal Music India Pvt Ltd.

As for other sectors, the government cleared Rs 36.76 crore FDI in Geomysore Services (India) Pvt Ltd to undertake minerals exploration and mining of gold nickel, platinum, diamonds, copper and zinc.

It also okayed C&J International's proposal for a Rs 19 crore foreign investment to set up a JV for retail trading under a single brand, as well as Strawberry Constructions Pvt Ltd's proposal for Rs 25 crore FDI.

In the agriculture field, it approved the Rs 15.28 crore proposal of Valuable AG-Bio Pvt Ltd for investment in floriculture and horticulture.

A lot of other proposals cleared entailed little or no investment.

The proposals deferred covered a host of telecom and technology companies, including Telcordia Technologies Inc., USA, one of the companies selected by DoT to implement mobile number portability but which did not get security clearance due to concerns that it operates in Pakistan.

Some of the other companies whose proposals have been deferred include Verizon Communications India Pvt Ltd, NTT Communications Corporation, Essar Capital Holdings (India) Pvt Ltd, Telstra Pvt Ltd and S Tel Pvt Ltd.

The proposals rejected by the government included American Standard Bath & Kitchen India Pvt Ltd, JT International India Ltd, General Nice Mineral Resources (India) Pvt Ltd, UE Development India Pvt Ltd, Allied Moulded Products Inc and Sri Dudheshwar Nath Steel Pvt Ltd.