Indo - Chinese Diplomatic & Economic Relations : News, Updates, Discussions & Analysis.

Govt sets up panel to screen all Chinese foreign investment proposals

India has set up a screening panel to vet all Chinese foreign investment proposals and those considered “non-controversial” could be approved, a senior government official told ET. More than 100 proposals involving foreign direct investment (FDI) from China are pending.

By Kirtika Suneja & Deepshikha Sikarwar
ET Bureau
October 01, 2020, 08:57 IST


New Delhi: India has set up a screening panel to vet all Chinese foreign investment proposals and those considered “non-controversial” could be approved, a senior government official told ET. More than 100 proposals involving foreign direct investment (FDI) from China are pending.

Prior government clearance was made mandatory for FDI from countries sharing a land border in April. This was widely seen to be directed at curbing Chinese takeovers of companies amid stock market volatility in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. This scrutiny intensified following tension on the border.

The screening panel is headed by the home secretary and has the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary as a member.

“An inter-ministerial committee has been set up to look at the proposals that various ministries had received that were forwarded to the home ministry for security clearance,” said the official cited above. The proposals that are “non-controversial” could be approved after the committee examines proposals from the point of view of ownership and its implications for security, the person said.

Prior nod for critical sector investments

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told ET in an interview on Tuesday that there was no ban on Chinese investments.

“If there is this feeling that is coming that we have stopped investors from a particular country, no we have not done any of that,” she had said, adding that investments are being regulated but not stopped.

FDI from China was $2.4 billion or 0.51% of the total between April 2000 and June 2020.

DPIIT notified the new FDI policy on April 18. “An entity of a country, which shares land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the government route,” it stipulated. This was aimed at “curbing opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions of Indian companies due to the current Covid-19

1601559313967.png


Prior government approval or clearance by the ministry of home affairs is required for investments in critical sectors including defence, satellites, mining, civil aviation, media, private security agencies and telecommunication.

The government will have to determine the security criteria and also look at it from the perspective of data theft, experts said.

“Security grounds could also refer to the activities of the company and how it treats data. The government will have to ensure that the data does not go into wrong hands,” said one of them.

A Delhi-based expert on investment issues said, “Security is a broad term and it might be difficult to determine it. Will the government go up the entire chain to check for beneficial ownership or look for links with the Chinese government or the military?”

 

India’s hasn’t changed its mind on Chinese investment, will make no exceptions: Officials​


India is not considering any proposal to allow any Chinese company to invest in India, people aware of the matter said on Tuesday, rebutting reports that New Delhi could clear 45 investment proposals from China. The report came against the backdrop of easing of tensions due to disengagement at Pangong Tso, one of the many friction points between troops of the two countries over the last nine months.

“This report is factually incorrect. The government has not cleared investment from China at any level. There is no such proposal either,” the official said, pointing to a Reuters report that indicated that New Delhi was set to clear 45 investment proposals from China.

The government has only cleared three foreign investment proposals from Hong Kong. Two of these are investments from Japanese companies, the third is a Non-Resident Indian group, the official said.

A foreign ministry official said any suggestion that New Delhi was ready to abruptly change its stand on foreign investment from China was grounded in an inadequate appreciation of New Delhi’s position on the border friction in the Ladakh sector.

India has always maintained that peace and tranquillity at the border is a prerequisite for developing bilateral relations. The two countries have taken early steps to restore normalcy at the Ladakh border but they need to travel some distance between status quo ante is restored.

New Delhi had last year responded to China’s aggressive manoeuvres in Ladakh by erecting barriers to the flow of investment from countries that share land borders with India and made it mandatory for companies based in these countries to get special approvals to get government contracts.

Of the three proposals of companies based in Hong Kong that have been cleared includes Nippon paints headquartered in Japan. The foreign investors proposing investment, in this case, include Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd, Japan, Nipsea International Limited, Hong Kong - it is a 100% subsidiary of Nipsea Holdings International Limited whose ultimate beneficial owners are, among others, the Goh family who are citizens of Singapore, Netherlands and Australia; and FraserHong Kong.

Another FDI proposal, which is cleared is of Citizen Watches (India) Private Limited which is 100%held by Citizen Watches Company Limited, Japan.

The third FDI proposal relates to Netplay Sports Private Limited, which is involved in sports, amusement and recreation activities. The foreign investors, in this case, include Allshores Capital Limited, Hong Kong owned by 2 NRIs, Sandeep Singh and Ashwin Mehta; and Rajeev Leekha, also an NRI.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ironhide

LMAO Mao Mao's copied Drishyam movie too.
It proves Chinese are monkeys without brains and merely copy what others do cars, fighters and now Hindi movies too get into their XEROX COPIER BRAINS...🤣🤣😂😂

I hope producers of Drishyam take them to court for royalty payments...😡
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: Ironhide and Bali78

LMAO Mao Mao's copied Drishyam movie too.
It proves Chinese are monkeys without brains and merely copy what others do cars, fighters and now Hindi movies too get into their XEROX COPIER BRAINS...🤣🤣😂😂

I hope producers of Drishyam take them to court for royalty payments...😡
wow , that is a complete rip off from the Indian movie.

One thing we need to understand is that chinese picking up stuff that is good where ever it comes from. They certainly seemed to have graduated from doing those self thrashing kungfu movies.

good lucking enforcing rules on chinese , even americans have hard time doing it. Instead of being stupid be smart, its high time we put subtitles and market our movies world wide before chinese do it.
 
wow , that is a complete rip off from the Indian movie.

One thing we need to understand is that chinese picking up stuff that is good where ever it comes from. They certainly seemed to have graduated from doing those self thrashing kungfu movies.

good lucking enforcing rules on chinese , even americans have hard time doing it. Instead of being stupid be smart, its high time we put subtitles and market our movies world wide before chinese do it.
And it’s definitely way better than watching those pathetic lame Kung fu Action comics.
 
And it’s definitely way better than watching those pathetic lame Kung fu Action comics.
you need to start some where right? They were a novelty to get attention when they started but now just another run of the mill chinese film.

If you think deeply the chinese always want to show martial arts, their history ...etc their sole intention is to change or create good perception of china. With action films they went now where. Now with this movie they are changing tactics to appeal to show case themselves as normal ppl with normal society. If there are more such movies I believe that would be their strategy.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: AbRaj
you need to start some where right? They were a novelty to get attention when they started but now just another run of the mill chinese film.

If you think deeply the chinese always want to show martial arts, their history ...etc their sole intention is to change or create good perception of china. With action films they went now where. Now with this movie they are changing tactics to appeal to show case themselves as normal ppl with normal society. If there are more such movies I believe that would be their strategy.
Nowadays they are producing Action/war movies like crazy.
That tells the thinking of CPC. They are preparing the perception for upcoming war/invasions
 
And it’s definitely way better than watching those pathetic lame Kung fu Action comics.
Chinese do make very good movies. I watched a bunch of them during 2012-14 period when Netflix had a rich collection of European, Chinese and Korean movies. Unfortunately they were gradually removed ☹️.