NEW DELHI: Belying expectations, the Central Government has not raised the foreign direct investment for uplinking FM Radio, even as the country is on the anvil of expanding the reach to 839 cities.
The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs said there will be no change in the existing limit for uplinking FM Radio.
The existing limit is 26 per cent foreign investment under the Government route for uplinking FM Radio that increased just over a year earlier from 20 per cent.
Related Post
(The CCEA has raised to 74 per cent of foreign investment in the case of teleports and multi-system or cable operators wanting to digitize, and fixed foreign exchange of 74 per cent for mobile TV.)
In May this year, Parliament had been told that the government was considering raising the FDI in this sector.
In January 2010, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had recommended increasing the foreign investment in FM Radio to 49 per cent in keeping with its own policy of uniform FDI in the broadcasting sector.
This was stated in a consultation paper on the subject of foreign direct investment in the broadcasting sector.
The consultation paper on foreign investment in the broadcasting sector was issued following a letter from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 30 September 2009 that TRAI should re-examine its recommendations of 26 April 2008 where the methodology of calculation of indirect foreign equity was based on the proportionate method in broadcasting sector. This had been placed on the TRAI website on 19 October 2009 to elicit preliminary views of stakeholders on the subject.
