New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS) The government has approved 17 foreign investment proposals worth approximately Rs.4,550 crore, it said here Tuesday.
“Based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on Nov 20, government has approved 17 proposals of foreign direct investment amounting to Rs. 4,551 crore,” an official statement said.

Among the proposals approved, it allowed the Delhi-based Sistema Shyam Teleservices to bring in foreign investment worth Rs.3,051 crore under the unified access service license.

Two minority shareholders of Vodafone Essar was given the nod to offload part stake in the company: former managing director Asim Ghosh has been allowed to sell stock worth Rs.329.53 crore, while Max group chairman Analjit Singh was given the green signal to sell shares valued at Rs.533.33 crore.

Ghosh holds a stake through investment firm AG Mercantile, while Singh does it through the firm Scorpios Beverages.

The board also referred two proposals to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs as the amount exceed Rs.600 crore. These are for Rs.928 crore by PepsiCo India and engineering company Alstom.

Four proposals were rejected, including one from Germany-based Eads Deutchland GmbH (EADs) to incorporate a manufacturing joint venture with Larsen & Toubro to undertake the production of defence equipment.