Pharma FDI Proposals Worth Rs 4,000 Crore Get Approval

New Delhi: Proposals for foreign direct investment amounting to around Rs 4,000 crore by four pharma and medical devices firms, including Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Biocon's research services arm Syngene, were on Wednesday approved by the government.

The government, however, rejected proposal of drug firm Strides Arcolab to issue shares to non-resident and resident equity shareholders of Shasun Pharmaceuticals and deferred three proposals from other firms.

Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharmaceuticals' Rs 3,000 crore proposal for increasing FII investment limit to 35 per cent from 13.09 per cent was the biggest in terms of value approved by the government, based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held May 28, 2015.

Syngene International's proposal to raise FDI of around Rs 930 crore by raising the foreign investment to 44 per cent from the approved percentage of 10 per cent was the second biggest in the pharma sector approved by the government on Wednesday.

The company plans to raise the sum by way of initial public offering of equity shares to FIIs, FPIs and NRIs.