oppn parties FDI Rules Changed To Prevent Predatory Acquisitions By Chinese Firms

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  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
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FDI Rules Changed To Prevent Predatory Acquisitions By Chinese Firms

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-04-19 11:21:04

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The government has done well to make changes in the FDI rules to ensure that Chinese firms do not make predatory strikes on Indian companies stressed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in India. Although fears and worries were floating around in corporate corridors, the issue was first raised in the public domain by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He has also thanked the government for having taken the decision. India was not alone in having worries on this score. Countries across the globe have been quick to amend rules to prevent Chinese firms from acquiring their companies in these troubled times.

The FDI rules in India have now been amended to ban automatic approval of any investment in any Indian firm by any company from a country that shares a border with India. Since many such Chinese investments are routed through countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore and other tax havens, the rules have also been amended to include any investment in which Chinese citizens or companies have beneficial ownership. All such investments will now require prior government approval. The government must have been alarmed when it was recently reported that the Public Bank of China had acquired a 1% stake in HDFC through open market operations following the Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) route. The shares prices of many companies in India have been battered down to new lows and this might seem attractive to the Chinese. Hence the government moved in quickly to amend the rules.

The Chinese are also worried about the fallout of the pandemic on the manufacturing units of overseas companies located in China. Several countries, most notably Japan, have already instructed their firms to move out of China. India, along with several other Asian nations, offers a good platform for the relocation of manufacturing facilities for firms moving out of China. Hence, the Chinese would want to invest in Indian companies to ensure that if not in China, they continue making goods for firms all over the world in India. But India has its own concerns, mainly for security in sensitive sectors, and cannot allow unrestricted investments from China.