Govt clears FDI proposals worth Rs 156 crore
New Delhi: The government has cleared 18 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 156 crore, including the Rs 150 crore proposal of French dairy products major Group Danone to manufacture and market its products in the country.

However, the Rs 207.5 crore proposal of Swarna Tollway for construction of National Highway 5 and NH-9 in Andhra Pradesh was sent for consideration and approval of the cabinet committee on economic affairs.

The major investment proposal cleared related to sectors like chemicals and petro-chemicals, heavy electrical equipment, consultancy and software development.

Groupe Danone proposes to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary for manufacturing and marketing its milk-based products and will bring the Rs 150 crore over a five-year period.

Among other proposals cleared was that of UK-based confectionary major Cadbury Schweppes to increase its holding in the Indian subsidiary, Cadbury India, to 100 per cent from the current 51 per cent.

Also cleared was UK advertising major WPP's proposal for amending the existing foreign currency approval. WPP proposes to conduct communication research for brand promotion and link test for the communication sector in India.
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CII submits plan for IT-enabled services
New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has presented a 15-point agenda for the IT-enabled Services (ITeS) industry to the minister for information technology, telecom and parliamentary affairs Pramod Mahajan.

CII has suggested appointment of a single, national level, licensing and monitoring authority for ITeS industry that can provide approvals for mutli-facility operations. CIIs suggestions to the minister cover regulatory, infrastructural and procedural issues and direct tax related issues.

Provision for bandwidth sharing within same entities and group companies in India, allowing Internet and international private leased circuit connectivity on the same LAN and declaring ITeS as an ISP are some other suggestions.
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ITDC hotel staff on strike
New Delhi: ITDC hotel employees went on a day's strike on 29 January in protest against the ongoing disinvestments process for the hotels.

Employees of Janpath Hotel, Lodhi, Qutab, Ranjit, and Ashok Hotel went on mass casual leave for a day in protest against the ongoing disinvestment process for the properties.

The strike was mainly observed in ITDC hotels in Delhi.
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Net subscriber growth slows
New Delhi: The Indian Internet subscriber base, which grew over 54 per cent during the quarter ending June 2001, has grown only 8 to 9 per cent in the quarters ending September and December 2001, according to the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority (Trai) report.

Till mid-2001, about 4 to 5 lakh customers were being added every six months but towards December 2001, only about 2 to 3 lakh customers were added to the existing base.

Since November 1998, a total of Rs 5,500 crore has been invested by ISPs. The Internet service provider association of India (ISPAI) is expecting a drop of 50 to 60 per cent in investments by ISPs in this fiscal ending April 2002, over the last fiscal.

Dial-up customers constitute about 95 per cent of total subscribers, in the case of almost all ISPs. Till date, the accumulated losses of ISPs is to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore, this does not include the investments made in the submarine project by Bharti and Singtel.
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