Govt commits faux pass; allows FDI in technical journals

NEW DELHI: The government has committed a faux pass by announcing clearance of the FDI proposal of a company for publishing and re-printing of scientific, technical and medical journals even though the issue of allowing foreign investment in non-news print media is pending before the Cabinet. Announcing the clearance of 37 proposals worth Rs 580 crore an official release issued on Friday said the government had allowed a proposal of German company Springer-Verlag GmbH for bringing in 95 per cent FDI worth Rs 2.56 crore in Gurgaon-based Bharats Raut. The release said the proposal pertained to, "publishing and re-printing of scientific, technical, medical and other non-fiction books, articles, journals in electronic or printed form and for marketing, export-import licensing of books/ articles/journals". However, when contacted officials of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion said the inclusion of journals had been a typing error. "The proposal of the concerned company that was considered and approved did not include journals. The word has been printed by mistake," the officials said, adding as per the present policy FDI was not allowed in scientific or technical journals.