The Finance Ministry is set to permit infusion of capital in the form of preference shares by foreign investors in the non-banking finance companies (NBFC) sector. According to the current guidelines, capital contribution of an overseas partner in an NBFC venture can only be in the form of equity share capital. The Government has already permitted several Indian companies to issue redeemable preference shares to their foreign partners as their capital contribution in the manufacturing sector and sectors such as power and telecommunications.

Tata Indica launch on final stretch

The Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co Ltd (Telco), due to launch its small car — Tata Indica — by December, is giving final touches to its marketing strategy, senior company sources said. Though described as India's first wholly indigenous small car, Indica will not be using that as a marketing platform. "While we have a right to talk about that (Indica's indigenous pedigree), we are not using that as a selling point because ultimately the product will have to deliver," a Telco official said.

Herbal formulation exports to be freed

The Government has decided to free exports of herbal formulations, even while exports of the parent plants, plant portions and their extracts obtained from the wild would continue to remain in the prohibited lists. The Commerce Ministry has defined 'formulations' as any herbal products that may contain portions/extracts of plants on the prohibited list "but only in unrecognisable and physically inseparable form". The Government had earlier banned the export of 53 plants and plant portions and their extracts. This has now been reduced to 29.

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