Govt approves 22 FDI proposals worth Rs3,249 crore

The government today gave its approval to 22 proposals of foreign direct investment (FDI) for a total of about Rs3,249 crore, including InterGlobe Aviation's cashless acquisition of IndiGo's shares.

The finance ministry approved the proposals based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) at its meeting held on 1 August 2014, an official release said today.

These included foreign direct investment proposals of KSK Energy Ventures, Telenor Mobile, InterGlobe Aviation and of 19 others worth Rs3248.83 crore, an official release said.

FIPB has cleared the proposal of InterGlobe Aviation, holding company of IndiGo. This would clear the way for fresh foreign direct investment in air carrier IndiGo. InterGlobe Aviation will issue 147,000 equity shares having face value of Rs1,000 to NRI owners of Caelum in in proportion to the voting units held by them, in a cashless transaction.

The approval is also likely pave the way for IndiGo to come out with its IPO. The air carrier has been planning to attract additional investment for several months.

Telenor Mobile Communications AS, Norway is investing Rs78 crore through Telenor South Asia Investment Pte Limited (TSAI), Singapore to raise the foreign parent's stake in an Indian company engaged in the telecom sector from 74 per cent to 100 per cent.

Baxter (India) Private Limited, Gurgaon, will invest a total of Rs327.39 crore for 100 per cent stake in brownfield pharma sector with post-facto approval for conversion of outstanding ECB availed from parent foreign company into equity shares of

KSK Energy Ventures Ltd, with 74.94 per cent foreign equity, engaged in the business of investing company, has been given permission to issue and allot warrants to foreign promoters. The proposal entails investment of Rs1,050 crore.

Government has also cleared proposal of Religare Credit Investments Trust. It has sought nod for foreign investment of up to Rs 500 crore by Religare India Credit Assets Fund, Netherlands in the Class A units of Religare Credit Opportunities Fund Scheme I, an AIF Category II Fund.

Other proposals which have been cleared include that ARKRAY Healthcare (pharma), Verdant Telemetry and Antenna Systems (defence), Genpact India (IT) and Innisfree Cosmetics India (trading).

Finance ministry said decision on nine FDI proposals, which were taken up by the FIPB on August 1, has been deferred. These include that of HBM Private Equity India, Intas Pharmaceuticals and Verizon Communications India Pvt Ltd.

The finance ministry deferred a decision on nine other proposals while it rejected four proposals.