20 oct 2001

govt okays fdi proposals worth $79.1 m
new delhi: the government has cleared 33 foreign direct investment (fdi) proposals worth rs 3.8 billion ($79.15 million) across different industries.

the cleared projects include a rs 2.3-billion proposal by leather footwear manufacturer dps universal ltd to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary in west bengal. a rs 1.05-billion proposal by uk-based tour and travel company thomas cook overseas ltd, to raise its equity to 60 per cent from 40 per cent in its indian subsidiary has also been cleared.

17 oct 2001

hands-on policy for fis
new delhi: finance minister yashwant sinha on tuesday announced that the government will henceforth pursue a "hands-on policy" with regard to public financial institutions.

"we will constantly oversee their overall position and hold their boards of directors and top management fully accountable", sinha said while inaugurating the three-day economic editors' conference here.

he clarified that the government will not interfere with the day-to-day functioning of the financial institutions, but it will keep a close watch, call for reports on their functioning and give them the necessary advice and support.

sinha announced the constitution of a team of experts which will regularly interact with him and other senior functionaries of the finance ministry and advise on measures to reform and strengthen the country's financial sector.

the team - comprising former sbi chairman m s verma, deepak parikh, k.v. kamath of icici, ravi narayan of nse, ravi mohan of crisil, c. bhave of nstl, omkar goswami of cii - will be a standing body.

government relaxes buyback norms
new delhi: the government on tuesday relaxed the norms allowing companies to buyback their shares. the government decided to allow buyback of up to 10 per cent equity by companies every six months against the prevailing restriction of two years.

under the new norms, the board of directors of the company would be authorised to approve to buyback shares up to 10 per cent of its paid up equity capital and free reserves without any special resolution. till now, promoters were allowed to hike their stake by 5 per cent in a year.

15 oct 2001

foreign reserves rise to $44,979 mn
mumbai: india's foreign currency reserves have again inched towards the $45 billion mark with a rise of $210 million at $44,979 million for the week ended october 5.

the foreign currency assets (fca) rose by$102 million to $42,050 million in the reporting week, according to the reserve bank of india's weekly statistical supplement.

the country's gold reserves also jumped by $108 million to $2,925 million. they had last shown a rise of $46 million at $2,817 million in the week ended august 31, 2001.

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