ARTICLE · 15 JANUARY 2021

FDI In Digital Media: Muddying The Waters For Digital Media Entities

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The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade ("DPIIT") on 18 September 2019 released Press Note 4 of 2019 ("Press Note 4").

IndiaGovernment, Public Sector

Anish Jaipuriar

Sayantika Ganguly

I. Introduction

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade ("DPIIT") on 18 September 2019 released Press Note 4 of 2019¹ ("Press Note 4").² Press Note 4 has introduced (rather than clarified) a cap on foreign direct investment ("FDI") in the digital media sector.

This introduction by Press Note 4 resulted in chaos among the market players more so because of lack of clarity on its scope and compliance timeline. The confusion prompted the DPIIT to release a clarification dated 16 October 2020³ ("DPIIT Clarification"). Subsequently, on 16 November 2020, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ("MIB") released another set of clarification⁴ ("MIB Clarification", collectively with DPIIT Clarification referred to as "Government Clarifications") as discussed in Chapter III below.

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