By IANS
New Delhi : The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Monday initiated a dialogue among industry stakeholders to examine foreign direct investment (FDI) limits for the broadcasting sector.
“Foreign investments have an important role in the economic development as an important source of funding. Foreign investments have other benefits also such as bringing in new technology, international best practices and access to export markets,” TRAI said in a statement.
“However, the extent of foreign investment is also conditioned by considerations such as national security, preserving socio-cultural fabric of the country, protection of domestic industry, etc.,” it added.
TRAI has initiated consultation at the behest of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that has sought recommendations on the issue from all sectors involved in the broadcasting segment.
TRAI’s consultation paper seeks to identify issues such as mainly the need to revise the current foreign investment limits, quantum of foreign capital inflows limits and permissions required under the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
It has also asked for the stakeholders’ comments on the classification of the sector into various services for determining FDI limits and the need for alignment of foreign investment limits in broadcasting sector with the foreign investment limits in Telecom sector.
The regulator has sought views on standardization of methodology for calculation of foreign investment limits in different segments of broadcasting sector.