Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, Jan 28: To bolster its finances and attract FDI, the Centre Wednesday took a slew of measures to raise nearly Rs 1.25lakh crore through spectrum sale and Coal India divestment while soothing investors’ nerves by deciding not to get into “fruitless litigations” like Vodafone case.
Besides, it cleared a proposal of HDFC Bank to raise `Rs 10,000crore from foreign investors and allowed drug maker Lupin to increase the cap of foreign institutional investor holding to 49 per cent in a move that would facilitate an inflow of `6,099crore.
Eyeing a record high spectrum sale of `one lakh crore, the government today fixed the base price for 3G auction at `Rs 3,705 crore per mega hertz — which itself can fetch over `Rs 17,000 crore from this band. Along with the spectrum in 2,100 MHz band, which is used to offer 3G services, the government will also offer the second generation or 2G mobile airwaves in three different bands in an auction scheduled for March 4.
While the auction of these 2G and 3G airwaves could garner `Rs 82,395crore at the base or minimum price, sources said the government expects the total proceeds to exceed `Rs one lakh crore.
Wooing overseas investors, the government Wednesday decided against challenging the Bombay high court decision favouring Vodafone in the `3,200crore tax case.
