The Union finance minister has finally cleared 20 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs 1,962.05 crore including Rs 924-crore proposal of UTV Software Communications Limited.

The proposal has been approved by the Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram on the recommendation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

As per the approval, The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) will invest foreign equity of Rs 9.24 billion in UTV Software Communications by way of subscribing to fresh equity shares, besides picking up equity shares and warrants in UTV Global Broadcasting Ltd (UGBL). The proposal also includes further acquisition of shares by Disney through a mandatory open offer.  

UTV Software Communications Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated media and entertainment company primarily in India.

Recently, UTV Software tied up with Disney-ABC International Television (Asia-Pacific), a unit of US media giant Walt Disney Co., to source news programming for its upcoming business news channel in India.

Apart from UTV, the Government has also given a green signal to the PSA India Pte Ltd, Singapore’s Rs 240-crore FDI proposal, Mauritius-based GS Strategic Investment’s Rs 300-crore FDI proposal, Hathway Cable and Datacom Pvt. Ltd proposal.

Two proposals — Essar Power, Mumbai and AXIS Pvt. Equity, Mumbai — have been recommended for consideration of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs as each of these proposals exceeded Rs 600 crore

However, eight FDI proposals have been deferred, including that of Singapore-based Delight Investments, Sumitomo Heavy Industry, Meta Telecom, and Aster Infrastructure.