Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday approved 29 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs 866.05 crore (Rs 8.66 billion), including DHL Express (Singapore) Pte Ltd and the Netherlands-based Newfields Holdings' acquisition of Blue Dart Express.
The proposal involves 100 per cent equity participation in Blue Dart's value-added transportation infrastructure business. It would result in an inflow of Rs 566.47 crore (Rs 5.66 billion), an official release said.
The FDI proposals were cleared by Chidambaram on the basis of the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board following its meeting on December 10.
The other proposals cleared by the government included Balaji Telefilms Ltd's preferential allotment to Dubai-based Asian Broadcasting, which will result in a foreign investment inflow of Rs 155.37 crore (Rs 1.55 billion).
The finance minister also cleared E*Trade Mauritius' proposal for transferring shares from resident to non-residents in Investmart India Ltd, which will result in an inflow of Rs 26.35 crore (Rs 263.5 million).
Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited had recently announced that Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund and E*Trade Financial have signed an agreement to purchase equity shares of IL&FS Investmart.
US-based Kyocera Wireless Corp also received the nod to its proposal to invest an additional Rs 8.84 crore (Rs 88.4 million) in Kyocera Wireless (India) Pvt Ltd for providing contract software development, import, marketing and sale of high-end CDMA mobile handsets.
