12 FDI proposals worth Rs 822 cr cleared: Govt

 
Government on Monday said it has cleared 12 foreign investment proposals, including that of Swedish fashion major Hennes & Mauritz, totalling Rs 821.63 crore.

"Based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on November 13, 2013, the Government of India has approved twelve (12) proposals of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounting to Rs 821.63 crore," Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Vodafone's proposal to increase its shareholding in its Indian arm to 100 per cent from the current 64.38 per cent was withdrawn from the agenda, it added.

The Rs 10,141 crore proposal, moved by CGP India Investments Ltd (an indirect Mauritian unit of Vodafone International Holdings BV), is now scheduled to be taken up in the next FIPB meeting on December 6.

As per the statement, the decision on Swiss building materials major Holcim's proposal has been kept in "abeyance".

H & M has got the approval to invest about Rs 720 crore for opening stores across the country. It plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in India to undertake single brand retailing. The fashion retailer has 3,000 stores spread across 53 markets worldwide.

Other FDI proposal which have have been cleared include that of Bay Capital Investment Ltd, Mauritius; Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd; Hawco Petrofer LLP, Mumbai; Jobair Hasan Chowdhury and Ms. Tasneem Ahmed, Bangladesh and Green Destinations Holdings, Mauritius.

The Finance Ministry further said that decision on four FDI proposals including that of GETCO Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore and P5 Asia Holding Investments (Mauritius) Limited, have been deferred.

Four FDI proposal were also rejected, the Ministry said.

These include Veritas (India) Limited and Astonfield Renewables Pvt Ltd.

India's FDI inflows during April-August grew 4 per cent to $8.46 billion.

Apple buys Topsy in pursuit of more Twitter tips

Apple has bought Topsy Labs in a deal that will provide the iPhone maker with more insights about the chatter on Twitter.

Topsy pores through the stream of conversations occurring on Twitter to identify trends and people influencing public opinion. The San Francisco start-up also runs a free search engine that boasts an index of every tweet posted since 2006, a resource that's not publicly available on Twitter's own online messaging service.

Apple Inc. spokeswoman Kristin Huguet confirmed the Topsy acquisition on Monday without elaborating on the Cupertino, Calif., company's plans for the Twitter analytic tools. The acquisition price wasn't disclosed.

"Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," Huguet said.

Getting a better grasp on the hottest topics on Twitter could help Apple sell more advertising on iPhones and iPads.

Apple has been trying to boost its mobile advertising revenue for years.

Topsy's Twitter tools also could be used simply to give the iPhone a search feature that isn't available on rival products running on Google's Android operating system. Unlike Topsy, Google hasn't been able to obtain a licensing agreement that would give its search engine more immediate and deeper access to Twitter's content.

Twitter ranks among the most popular applications on smartphones, so a quicker way to search through tweets on the device might appeal to some consumers.

Apple spent a total of $496 million acquiring other companies during its last fiscal year ending Sept. 28. In comparison, Google Inc. spent $1.4 billion acquiring other companies during the same stretch.

Indian rupee up 16 paise against US dollar, at 62.28

 
The Indian rupee rose by 16 paise to 62.28 against the US dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange after the economy grew by a higher-than-expected 4.8 per cent in the September quarter.

The domestic currency had lost three paise to close at 62.44 against the dollar on Friday amid demand for the US currency from oil refiners.

Forex dealers on Monday said increased selling of the US currency by exporters, a higher opening in the domestic equity market and strengthening of euro and yen against the dollar overseas also supported the rupee.

The BSE Sensex rose 70.67 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 20,862.60 in early trade on Monday.

BSE Sensex gains in morning trade on GDP data

 
The BSE benchmark Sensex continued its rising streak for the third straight day on Monday and was trading over 50 points up in morning trade on sustained buying by funds as the economy grew by a higher-than-expected 4.8 per cent in the September quarter amid a mixed trend at other Asian bourses.

At 10.06 am, Sensex was up 68.41 points at 20860.34. Similarly, Nifty was up 24.60 points at 6200.70 during the same time.

Brokers said sentiments buoyed after the economy grew by 4.8 per cent in the September quarter on an uptick in agriculture and factory output and a mixed trend in the Asian region.

The 30-share barometer surged 70.67 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 20,862.60 in early trade. The index had gained nearly 372 points in the previous two sessions.

Stocks of banking, realty, capital goods and healthcare sectors led the rally.

On similar lines, the National Stock Exchange index Nifty moved up by 24.55 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 6,200.65.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.23 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.12 per cent in early trade on Monday.

Toyota Kirloskar sales up 12 per cent in November

Toyota Kirloskar Motor's total sales went up by a little over 12 per cent in November at 12,748 units. The company had sold 11,357 units in the same month last year.

Domestic sales of the company dipped slightly to 10,208 units in November this year compared to 10,352 units in the same month last year.

"The market continues to be sluggish and market sentiments are not expected to improve in the coming months," said company's Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (Marketing and Commercial) Sandeep Singh.

Toyota Kirloskar said it exported 2,540 units of the Etios series last month.