The Hindu : Cabinet to take `fresh look' at FDI in print media

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 25, 2002

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Cabinet to take `fresh look' at FDI in print media

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 24. The Union Cabinet today decided to take a fresh look at the Cabinet Resolution of 1955 — which bans the publication of foreign-owned newspapers or periodicals in India and does not permit them to bring out Indian editions — and, therefore, deferred the Information & Broadcasting Ministry's proposal to allow 74 per cent foreign participation in non-news, non-current affairs and ``specialised'' publications.

Briefing mediapersons late tonight, the Union Minister and Cabinet spokesperson, Pramod Mahajan, however, refused to comment on whether the I&B Ministry had been asked to frame a comprehensive print media policy as had been suggested recently by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology in its report on `Entry of Foreign Print Media and Foreign Direct Investment in Print Media'. All he said was that the Cabinet had decided to discuss the issue in its entirety at a ``proper time''.

While the Standing Committee had rejected limited foreign participation/investment in the print media, it had given a tentative nod to the publication of ``scientific and technological publications'' provided they entered into collaboration with Indian publishing houses dealing with such subjects. Since the Standing Committee recommendations are not binding on the Government, the I&B Ministry today sought approval for a more generic category of publications; save those dealing in news and current affairs.

This was the second time in about six months that the I&B Ministry had sought Cabinet approval for 74 per cent FDI in non-news, non-current affairs and ``specialised'' publications. When it had been brought to the Cabinet before the winter session of Parliament, the Cabinet had then decided to await the Standing Committee's report before taking a decision.

Given the contentious nature of the issue, the Standing Committee's decision to reject limited foreign participation/investment in print media was not a unanimous one. While rejecting foreign participation, the Committee had been guided by the Home Ministry view that the internal security scenario was not conducive for opening up this sector and its own conviction that it was not the lure of returns, but the prospect of ``gaining enormous clout in the socio-political life of this country'' that would attract the foreign investor into investing in the Indian newspaper industry.

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