74% FDI in non-news publications allowed, norms issued

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday issued guidelines for the publication of Indian editions of foreign technical, scientific, speciality magazines, journals and periodicals and also allowed foreign investment of up to 74 per cent in Indian entities publishing non-news and scientific journals.
According to the guidelines, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will process any application - for a fee of Rs 5,000 - after due inter-ministerial consultation, to decide whether the proposed publication comes under the category of scientific, technical or speciality magazine, periodical, journal.
"Representatives of the concerned ministries/specialist bodies and language experts, as found necessary will be associated in this task," a government notification said.
As per the guidelines, the ministry can review any permission in case of any change of editorial content at a later date. In cases where both FDI and FII investment are envisaged in a project, applicants have to get separate clearance from FIPB and the Reserve Bank of India after obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the ministry.
Similarly, applicants have to approach the RBI, in cases that involve only portfolio investment, after obtaining the NOC from the ministry.
The guidelines stipulated that the ministry would issue an approval subject to compliance with the provisions of the Press and Registration of Books Act.
The government had earlier decided to allow foreign investment of up to 74 per cent in Indian entities publishing non-news journals on a case-by-case basis. It had also allowed 26 per cent FDI in news segment.
However, guidelines in this regard are still to be framed.