AVIATION FDI & DISINVESTMENT TO FOLLOW SUIT?
New Delhi,India : Undermined by coal and telecom scams and nailed by its allies, the UPA government on Thursday exhibited confidence by putting the economic agenda back on rails. While the cabinet increased fuel prices, it will on Friday consider allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in civil aviation and disinvesting five PSUs — Hindustan Copper Corporation, NeyveliLignite Corporation, Minerals and Metal Corporation (MMTC), NALCO and Oil India Ltd.
Worried that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee may still throw up tantrums on any kind of FDI, prime minister Manmohan rushed civil aviation minister Ajit Singh to Kolkata to seek her consent. The issue has been listed on the agenda of the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) on Friday to allow the foreign airlines to invest up to 49 per cent, instead of the present 25 per cent limit, in the domestic aviation firms.
The proposal readied for the CCEA envisages investments in only private airlines and not in the state-run Air India. A 49 per cent stake gives them minority shareholder control, but also the right to block a special resolution. The proposals recommend that the chairman and two-third directors on the board of the domestic airline receiving FDI will need to be Indians, and substantial ownership and control will remain with Indian nationals.
14/09/2012 : DNA.
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