India has stepped up scrutiny of investments from companies based in neighboring countries, in what is widely seen as a move to stave off takeovers by Chinese firms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indian Ministry of Trade said in a notification dated April 17 that the changes to federal rules on investment were meant to curb “opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions.”
It did not mention China.
Investments from an entity in a country that shares a land border with India would require Indian government approval, the ministry said, meaning they can not go through an automatic route.
“These times should not be used by other countries to take over our companies,” a senior government official told reporters.
Similar restrictions are already in place for Bangladesh and Pakistan, but up to now, they have not applied to China and India’s other neighbors with land borders: Bhutan, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Nepal.
“This will certainly impact sentiment among Chinese investors. However, greenfield investments will not be impacted,” said Santosh Pai, a partner at Indian law firm Link Legal, which advises several Chinese companies.
A report in February by research group Gateway House said that Chinese foreign direct investment into India stood at US$6.2 billion.
China’s ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) has plans to invest US$1 billion in India, while automakers including Great Wall Motor Co Ltd (長城汽車) and MG Motor, a unit of China’s SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車), have said they intend to invest millions.
Delano Furtado, a partner with law firm Trilegal, said that the notification might also affect Chinese companies with existing investments in the country.
“Any follow-on investments in those entities may now require approvals,” Furtado said.
India’s notification said that government approval would also be needed to change the ownership of an Indian entity that had existing foreign investment.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS