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The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has approved Norwegian telecom major Telenor’s proposal for increasing its stake in its joint venture company Telewings Communications from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, but deferred a decision on the Jet-Etihad deal seeking clarity on ownership.
“It (Jet Airways—Etihad proposal) has been deferred. We need more details of effective control and ownership,” Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters after a meeting of the FIPB on Friday.
Telenor had got into a new joint venture last year with Lakshdeep Investments & Finance after its earlier partner Unitech exited from the Uninor joint venture. The company’s proposal to increase its stake from 49 per cent to 74 per cent was deferred by the FIPB in March this year.
Telenor CEO Jon Baksaas had expressed his disappointment at the delay in his meeting with Commerce & Industry Minister Anand Sharma recently in Myanmar and had asked for the Minister’s intervention.
“The Telenor proposal has been approved,” Mayaram said after Friday’s meeting confirming that the company had got the much awaited green signal.
Telenor had lost its 22 licences for operating in India after the Supreme Court judgement early last year cancelling all 2G licences issued during tainted former telecom minister A Raja’s tenure. It participated again in fresh auctions later in the year and won the licences for six circles.
The delay in clearance to Jet Airways plans to sell 24 per cent stake to Abu Dhabi—based Etihad for about Rs 2,058 crore was not unexpected as there are pending ownership and control issues raised by SEBI and Competiion Commission of India.
The DIPP is also examining whether NRI owner Naresh Goyal’s stake in the company should be considered part of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Jet’s submission is the largest foreign investment proposal in the aviation sector after the Government allowed foreign carriers to pick up stake in domestic airlines in September last year.
The FIPB cleared AirAsia’s proposal to set up a joint venture airline company with Tata Sons and another partner in March this year.
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