Government to consider 31 FDI proposals on December 16

NEW DELHI: The government will consider 31 foreign investment proposals, including that of Ratnakar Bank, Novartis Healthcare and HDFC Bank, on December 16.

Of the 31 items on the agenda, nine are those on which the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) had deferred a decision in its earlier meetings.

The nine proposals include that of Pureplay Investment Partners (Mauritius), INX Music, ASV Europa Security Private Limited, Halyard Health Inc (US) and Beloor Bayir Biotech.

Proposals of Tevapharm India Pvt, GMU Infosoft Pvt, U Infosoft Pvt Ltd, and Monsoon Capital LLC, US are also the nine investment plans.

Other investment proposals include that of Lausanne Hospitality Consulting Sa, Switzerland; Sprint Telecom India; Maham Nayyar and Miss Sahar Nayyer, Pakistan; and Symbiotec Pharmalab.

While India allows FDI in most of the sectors through automatic route, approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in the Finance Ministry is required in certain sectors like pharmaceutical and defence, considered sensitive for the economy.

The government has taken several steps to boost FDI in the country. It has de-licensed several defence products for private players, besides hiking the FDI cap to 49 per cent in the sector.

Railways sector too has been opened to foreign investment and the government intends to hike FDI ceiling in insurance sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent.