FinMin to decide on 25 FDI proposals

The Finance Ministry will consider 25 proposals including that of Ashok Leyland Defence Systems for foreign investment at the FIPB meeting on January 20.

Proposals of Tata AutoComp GY Batteries and Singapore-based Amazon Asia-Pacific Resources is also on the agenda of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) meeting to be chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan.

India allows FDI through automatic route in most of the sectors and activities, but FIPB nod is required if the project exceeds Rs 1,200 crore. Besides, applications for foreign investment in sensitive sectors, like telecom and defence also require a prior approval of the board.

While foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country surged by 36% to $23.68 billion during the January-October period this fiscal, experts are of the view that further liberalisation of norms is necessary to attract more foreign capital.

The FIPB will be holding 173rd meeting on January 20. The meeting will be attended by officials from various ministries, like Home Affairs, Information & Broadcasting and Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

Proposals of of Italy-based Canali Holding, Timex Garments, Fluke South East Asia Pte, Deltronix India, Zipcash Card Services, JT International India and Cigniti Technologies are also on the agenda of the FIPB.

Jeevan Telecasting Corporation is seeking the Board's approval for induction of foreign investment to carry out uplinking of news and current affairs channel.

In the last meeting, the board had cleared 18 proposals envisaging foreign direct investment of about Rs 2,126 crore.