After a long wait, the country saw some bold policy interventions from the UPA government today (14 Sept 2012). These measures came on top of yesterday's decision to hike the diesel price by Rs 5 and limit the subsidised LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders to six per year, per family.
To begin with, the government decided to revive the policy to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. The decision earlier passed in November 2011 was put on the back burner following stiff opposition from the allies. This time it has played safe by giving state governments right to implement the policy or not in their territories. The ruling Trinamool government in West Bengal was the first to say no to the policy. MNCs like WalMart of the USA, Carrefour of France and Metro of Germany are the major immediate beneficiaries.
Heeding to the long standing demand of a section of Indian private aviation sector, the Cabinet decided to allow foreign airlines to hold up to 49 per cent of the equity in Indian airline companies. Kingfisher and Spicejet are the immediate beneficiaries. Both are currently debt stressed.
The UPA government also raised the FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in Broadcasting, Cable and Dish TV services.
Better late than never. To meet the PSU disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore set for the fiscal 2012-13, the Cabinet gave green signal to disinvest 10 per cent stake in Oil India, 9.59 per cent in Hindustan Copper, 12.15 per cent in NALCO and 9.33 per cent in MMTC. In all, the government hopes to garner around Rs 15,000 crore from the sale of equities. Last fiscal, it managed to raise only Rs 14,000 crore against the target figure of Rs 40,000 crore.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) reacted with a bang 444 point rise (highest in the last 14 months) to the above measures. Expressing their satisfaction over the delayed reform measures, Indian industry captains wants the government to implement the same without any roll backs.
To begin with, the government decided to revive the policy to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail. The decision earlier passed in November 2011 was put on the back burner following stiff opposition from the allies. This time it has played safe by giving state governments right to implement the policy or not in their territories. The ruling Trinamool government in West Bengal was the first to say no to the policy. MNCs like WalMart of the USA, Carrefour of France and Metro of Germany are the major immediate beneficiaries.
Heeding to the long standing demand of a section of Indian private aviation sector, the Cabinet decided to allow foreign airlines to hold up to 49 per cent of the equity in Indian airline companies. Kingfisher and Spicejet are the immediate beneficiaries. Both are currently debt stressed.
The UPA government also raised the FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in Broadcasting, Cable and Dish TV services.
Better late than never. To meet the PSU disinvestment target of Rs 30,000 crore set for the fiscal 2012-13, the Cabinet gave green signal to disinvest 10 per cent stake in Oil India, 9.59 per cent in Hindustan Copper, 12.15 per cent in NALCO and 9.33 per cent in MMTC. In all, the government hopes to garner around Rs 15,000 crore from the sale of equities. Last fiscal, it managed to raise only Rs 14,000 crore against the target figure of Rs 40,000 crore.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) reacted with a bang 444 point rise (highest in the last 14 months) to the above measures. Expressing their satisfaction over the delayed reform measures, Indian industry captains wants the government to implement the same without any roll backs.
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