Govt sets Oct 2021 deadline for digital media to reduce foreign funding to 26%

Digital media companies engaged in news and current affairs will have to comply with “the requirements of citizenship of the Board of Directors and of the Chief Executive Officers (by whatever name called)”.

Updated on: Nov 16, 2020, 15:05:27 IST

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By Shishir Gupta

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Digital media companies that have more than 26% foreign investment will get one year to bring down the share, according to the ministry of information and broadcasting order issued on Monday that outlines the procedure for compliance with India’s foreign funding rules.

The Union Cabinet has approved 26% foreign direct investment (FDI) in digital media.(Mint file)

According to the government order accessed by Hindustan Times, digital media groups which have foreign investment less than 26% should submit complete details about their shareholding pattern within one month. They will also have to provide details about the directors, promoters and shareholders.

“Entities, which, at present, have an equity structure with foreign investment exceeding 26 per cent would give similar details... within one month and to take necessary steps for bringing down the foreign investment to 26% by 15 October 2021 and seek approval of the ministry of information and broadcasting,” Monday’s order issued by Amarendra Singh, under secretary at the ministry said.

The government’s public notice comes a year after the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi spelt out a 26% foreign investment limit for entities engaged in uploading or streaming of news and current affairs via digital media.

Any entity which intends to bring fresh foreign investment in the country has to seek prior approval of the central government through the foreign investment facilitation portal of DPIIT.

The ministry has also stipulated that the companies will have to comply with “the requirements of citizenship of the Board of Directors and of the Chief Executive Officers (by whatever name called)”.

The entities are required to obtain security clearance for all foreign personnel likely to be deployed for more than 60 days in a year by way of appointment, contract or consultancy or any other capacity for functioning of the entity prior to their deployment.

For this purpose, the order said, the entities will apply to the ministry of information and broadcasting at least 60 days in advance and the proposed foreign personnel shall be deployed by the entity only after prior approval of this ministry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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