A section of the UPA is planning to approach Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against a proposal by Orange Realty Private Ltd, a New Delhi-based company, to bring in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth Rs 2,051 crore, according to Congress party leaders who didn’t want to be named.
At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Monday, at least three senior ministers, including Home Minister P Chidambaram, opposed the company’s FDI proposal on the ground that the identity of its promoters was unclear. The Cabinet decided to postpone the decision till the prime minister came back to work.
During its meeting on January 9, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) had forwarded the proposal by Orange to get Rs 2,051 crore from a Mauritius-based company, to the Union Cabinet. In its proposal, Orange had said it wanted to undertake further downstream investments.
According to government norms, FDI proposals above Rs 600 crore are cleared by the Union Cabinet.
In June 2006, the company had received $120 million (Rs 600 crore) from SIERO Investment holding, an investment company in Mauritius, according to an earlier commerce ministry press release.
Orange Realty officials could not be reached for comments.