Indian DTH operator DishTV has received approval from India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to raise foreign investment worth up to Rs 980 crore (US$190.4m).
In a brief statement on 25 November, the FIPB said DishTV plans to “increase…
Indian DTH operator DishTV has received approval from India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to raise foreign investment worth up to Rs 980 crore (US$190.4m).
In a brief statement on 25 November, the FIPB said DishTV plans to “increase foreign equity to produce telecommunication equipment and provide management and marketing of [regional] ‘agrani’ services, i.e. in the area of mobile satellite communications”.
No further financial details were disclosed, and FIPB director Vijay Chauha declined to discuss the case. DishTV did not respond to requests for comment.
According to DishTV’s website, currently only 3.4% of its shares are held by undisclosed foreign investors.
The FIPB’s statement also revealed it had approved a request by Indian media firm NDTV Lifestyle to increase its foreign equity for an undisclosed amount. NDTV Lifestyle, which is 51%-owned by India’s New Delhi Television Limited and 49%-owned by Malaysia’s satellite pay-TV provider Astro All Asia Networks, provides uplinking, producing, distributing and broadcasting non-news and non-current affairs TV services.
Neither company was able to comment before the press deadline, but the development comes as a government amendment to the country’s FDI rules increases the maximum share that a foreign investor can own in an Indian DTH company from 49% to 74%.
As the country’s banks scale down their lending amid a lull in public markets, DTH operators are keen to bring in foreign investments to upgrade their networks.
Reports suggest US cable company Comcast has approached India-based conglomerate Reliance about purchasing a 49% stake in the latter’s DTH platform. Reliance Digital TV is reportedly the only DTH operator in India that has yet to sell any of its share capital to a foreign investor.
Meanwhile, Videocon Industries, another Indian industrial conglomerate, has reportedly hired UBS to sell a 25% stake in its local DTH firm, called D2H, for US$75m-US$100m.
According to the FIPB’s most recent statement on direct foreign investments, which detailed recommendations made during a meeting held on 15 November, it approved 18 such proposals in its last consultation, amounting to around Rs 2126.20 crore (US$4.14bn), from local companies in sectors ranging from the steel industry to financial services.
