The proposals of Bharati Televentures and ABB Asea Brown Boveri to pump in Rs 437.50 crore and Rs 200 crore, respectively, in setting up investment companies were the largest among the 53 foreign direct investment proposals approved by the industry ministry on Saturday.
The approved foreign direct investment proposals, worth Rs 1795.95 crore, include projects in the sectors of power, trading, software, consultancy services, electronics and engineering. The approved proposals have export projections worth over Rs 2042.94 crore.
Other big FDI proposals cleared include a proposal of Independent Power Service Corporation for a Rs 117 crore power plant based on liquid fuel, a Rs 175 crore proposal of Candia Energy Systems for a barge-mounted power project, and a Rs 8.8 crore proposal of Microwave Communications for radio paging services.
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The Bharati Televentures proposal relates to an equity float in foreign currency worth Rs 437.5 crore 36 per cent of its equity. Bharati Televentures is the holding company of all telecom services projects of the Bharati Telecom group.
The Delhi-based group holds the cellular licence for Delhi through Bharati Cellular, 51 per cent equity of which is owned by Bharati Televentures. Another group company Bharati Telenet holds the basic telecom licence for Madhya Pradesh and the cellular licence for Himachal Pradesh.
ABBs proposal of investing Rs 200 crore in an investment company will be used to fund its operations in the country. The proposal of Independent Power Service Corporation, a subsidiary of Thermo Ecotek of the US, has been cleared Rs 117 crore to set up a 100-mw plant based on liquid fuel in Mysore.
Some other power projects cleared by the government include that of Germanys Eurokapitals for a 130-mw plant in Dodballapur with a foreign equity of 90 per cent equaling Rs 125.88 crore. Tanir Bavi Power Corporations 170-mw plant, promoted by Chicago Power of the US, Kontek Abbadi of Malaysia and SEA Corp, an NRI outfit based in the US, got an approval for 100 crore where FDI would be Rs 75 crore and NRI investment Rs 25 crore.
The number of proposals approved on the recommendation of the Foreign Investment Promotion Broad since July 1996 has gone up to 1,138 with the proposed investment at Rs 22945.95 crore.
Copper Automotives proposal for ignition products for automotive industry in which it will invest Rs 105 crore has also been cleared.
Some proposals regarding airlines too have been okayed. They include Assured Airways Ltds Rs 2 crore investment to pick up a 50 per cent stake in an air taxi service and Deccan Airlines Rs 2.63 crore proposal to procure aircraft for air taxi operations based in Tamil Nadu. Another proposal is that of Transindia Airlines, worth Rs 16 crore, for a 100 per cent stake in the Bangalore-based venture.
Other companies with projects for 100 per cent FDI share include Brintons Asia (worth Rs 12.34 crore) for machine-made woven carpets and Jain Irrigation Systems (Rs 12.25 crore) for micro-irrigation systems.
Siemens Communications Softwares proposal to invest Rs 5.42 crore in a Bangalore-based 100 per cent export-oriented software unit has been cleared.
Major stock broking proposals approved include those of James Capel (B&K), worth Rs 19 crore, to increase stake in its Indian arm from 51 per cent to 72 per cent.
Another proposal relates to that of C S First Boston, Hong Kong, which plans to invest Rs 17.5 crore to pick up 75 per cent equity in its proposed stock-broking arm.
ED&F Man Netherland BVs proposal of investing Rs 3.50 crore in trading sugar molasses has an export projection of Rs 1102.50 crore in three years, Karuna Food Processings with FDI of Rs o.89 crore in processed fruits and vegetables project under a 100 per cent EOU scheme has projected exports worth Rs 62.98 crore in five years.