FDI IN CIGARETTE MANUFACTURE BANNED

 Taking forward the commitment to discourage foreign equity in tobacco trade, the Union Cabinet banned Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in cigarette manufacturing. 
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma recently asserted that there was no room for allowing FDI in cigarettes and tobacco and appropriate measures would be taken soon to curb this. His Ministry had moved the Cabinet on the FDI issue, which got the final approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

 The decision is the latest in the government's long-standing drive against smoking. In 2008, it banned smoking in public places and put a curb on tobacco advertisements.  The proposal to ban FDI was mooted by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and approved by the CCEA.  Asked about the existing foreign investment in the tobacco sector.Under the existing norms, 100 per cent FDI was permitted in cigarette manufacturing, but an industrial licence was required and the proposals needed to be approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. 
NDIA REMAINS PREFERRED FDI DESTINATION Foreign direct investment totaled $46.5 billion in 2008
Notwithstanding global meltdown and the financial crisis impacting major economies of the world, India continued to remain as the preferred and attractive foreign direct investment (FDI) destination attracting nearly $46.5 billion of FDI during 2008.
With regard to foreign institutional investors (FIIs), there were signs that the FIIs who had recorded net outflows in 2008-09 might have returned to the Indian market in the last two months.
According to an UNCTAD study, FDI into India went up from $35.1 billion in 2007 to $46.5 billion in 2008 even as global flows declined from $1.9 trillion to $1.7 trillion during the period. It has suggested that FDI limit in defence industries should be raised to 49 per cent from 26 per cent at present and allow up to 100 per cent FDI on a case-by-case basis. IMF RAISES INDIA’S GROWTH FORECAST The International Monetary Fund raised India’s growth forecast to 5.4 per cent for 2009, even as it projected the world economy to shrink by 1.4 per cent. In April, it forecast a growth of 4.5 per cent for India. In its update to the World Economic Outlook, the IMF said the global economy would contract by 1.4 per cent. Earlier it had projected a growth of 1.3 per cent. The Chinese economy would expand by 7.5 per cent, as against 6.5 per cent forecast in April, it said. LIC TIES UP WITH NOMURA AMC AS STRATEGIC PARTNER The Japanese company will take 35 per cent stake in LIC MF
LIC Mutual Fund Trustee Company Private Limited (LICMF Trustee) and LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Company Limited (LICMF AMC) announced the induction of Nomura Asset Management Co as a strategic partner in India.Nomura Asset Management will acquire a 35 per cent stake in LICMF AMC as well as in LICMF Trustee.
LICMF AMC is ranked seventh in the Indian asset management industry with a 4.8 per cent market share.
Nomura Asset Management Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nomura Holdings of Japan, is one of the leading Japanese and Asian fund managers with 18,950.2 billion yen (about $192 billion) of assets under management
(as on March 31, 2009). Nomura is a leading financial services group and a pre-eminent Asian-based investment bank with worldwide reach. The move would also align the FDI policy with the existing legislation on tobacco control to a greater extent.