I&B Ministry
Reddy okays FII investments in news channels
MUMBAI: Information & broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy today signed a note allowing foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to invest in television news channels.
The note prepared by the I&B ministry puts the total cap on foreign holdings (FII and foreign direct investments) at 26 per cent. The development validates a report first put out by indiantelevision.com on 22 September under the headline “Govt may allow FII inflows in news channels.”
The I&B ministry is likely to seek cabinet approval for the proposal before October-end. It may be recalled that the government had made it clear that FIIs would not be allowed to invest in news channels in the aftermath of the Star News case. News channels were given till 31 October to meet the government’s uplinking conditions.Market analysts see the I&B’s move to allow FII investments in news channels as having a positive but limited influence on media stocks. The big gainers, of course, are TV Today Network and NDTV, as they currently have hardly any FII holdings.
“FIIs had shown keen interest to invest in TV Today and NDTV in the past, but were not permitted. Aaj Tak and the two NDTV channels are performing well. The stock price will see a boost,” says an analyst in a leading foreign institutional firm.TV18, on the other hand, may not gain substantially with the permission to allow FII investments, a market analyst says. The company has 15.39 per cent FII holding.
What is not clear at this point is whether the easing of foreign investment norms will help clear a regulatory logjam that business news channel CNBC-TV18 has been confronting since late last year that over CNBC’s attempt to increase its holding.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) had in December last year turned down a proposal from Television Eighteen Ltd. to offload 15 per cent equity stake in its uplinking subsidiary to CNBC Asia. The FIPB did this on the recommendation of the I&B ministry.
Television Eighteen’s uplinking subsidiary that uplinks the CNBC-TV18 channel from India is iNews.com. CNBC Asia holds a 10 per cent stake in iNews.com.
A question mark remains however, over the Zee Group’s Hindi news channel. Zee Telefilms already has an FII holding of 36.75 per cent. The company has already applied for the restructuring of its Zee News channel and is awaiting clearance. “Zee Telefilms can’t hold the news channel as it has a substantial foreign holding,” says an analyst.
I&B Ministry
Press Sewa Portal digitises 1.5 lakh records, streamlines periodical registrations: MIB
Online system spans 780 districts; Rs 5.6 crore penalties, 88,315 titles cancelled
NEW DELHI: India’s print media registry has quietly moved from dusty files to digital dashboards. The government has digitised more than 1.5 lakh historical records of newspapers and periodicals and shifted registrations fully online through the Press Sewa Portal.
Introduced under the Press and Registration of Periodicals (PRP) Act, 2023, the portal now handles all applications for registering periodicals, replacing the earlier paper-heavy system created under the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, which has since been repealed.
The digital shift brings a wide range of services onto a single platform. Publishers can now register new periodicals, revise registrations, transfer ownership, file annual statements, pay penalties online and apply for circulation verification without navigating government offices.
As part of the rollout, specified authorities in 780 districts across India have been onboarded onto the platform. Since 1 March 2024, the portal has processed 11,081 applications and issued certificates across different categories.
The transition has also brought stronger compliance. According to government data, Rs 5.63 crore in penalties has been collected through the portal so far. States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh account for some of the largest penalty collections.
At the same time, the authorities have carried out a major clean-up of inactive or non-compliant publications. A total of 88,315 periodicals have been cancelled nationwide, with Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi among the states reporting the highest number of cancellations.
The government says the system will continue to evolve based on feedback from users. The Press Registrar General of India (PRGI) regularly reviews suggestions to improve services and make compliance easier for publishers.
The full list of registered newspapers and periodicals is available on the PRGI website under the Registered Titles section.
The information was shared in a written reply in the Lok Sabha by minister of state for information and broadcasting and parliamentary affairs L Murugan, responding to a question from Damodar Agrawal.
