The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has rejected a proposal by long distance communication services company Meta Telecom Pvt Ltd seeking to increase its foreign equity component from 40 per cent to 73.45 per cent, a government statement said here today.
Althought the statement did not specify the reason for the rejection, previously published news reports have suggested that the necessary security clearances were not granted to the company by Indian government agencies.
Last year, Meta Telecom, which is promoted by Amit Gupta and Dalto Thread Ltd, had jumped into the fray for mobile licences. Its application, along with that of several other bidders, is yet to be considered by the Department of Telecom. Very few other details are available about the company.
One more proposal, that of ICP Investments (Mauritius) seeking repatriation of original investment before a period of three years from completion of minimum capitalisation has also been rejected by the FIPB.
Meanwhile, based on the July 29 recommendations of the FIPB, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has approved 24 investment proposals amounting to Rs 753 crore.
Among the major proposals cleared are Daiichi Sankyo’s application to purchase equity shares in two Indian companies for Rs 105 crore. The other two significant approvals were Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd seeking permission to invest Rs 318 crore in the telecommunication sector, and Mahle Gmbh of Germany proposal to set up a wholly owned subsidiary for Rs 141 crore.
The board also deferred eleven proposals including Dow Europe’s plan to set up a joint venture company and Pepsico India’s application to increase approved equity by $50 million to $455 million.