New Delhi, Oct. 17: StanChart will invest in government securities; Diageo, the world’s largest liquor company, plans to make local rum and whisky through a joint venture in Jalandhar, while fashion magazine Variety will flutter into India.

The three well-known totems were among a batch of 22 foreign direct investment proposals that were cleared by finance minister P. Chidambaram at a meeting held on October 3.

StanChart already has a primary dealer outfit with UTI Securities but the two partners intend to dissolve it. The clearance paves the way for StanChart’s NBFC foray into the G-Secs business. StanChart plans to acquire the stake of UTI Securities in Standard Chartered UTI Securities India Pvt Ltd (Scuti) since UTI Securities was recently acquired by Securities Trading Corporation of India. Scuti was engaged in primary dealer business, which has been transferred to Standard Chartered Bank.

A StanChart spokesperson confirmed that UTI Securities had expressed its decision to exit from the joint venture and have put in the application to StanChart. The bank is in the process of finalising the deal. The net worth of the enterprise is Rs 70 crore, where StanChart held 75 per cent and UTI Securities 25 per cent. In the event of any partner exiting a JV, the valuation is done at book value. Thus, the bank will have to pay Rs 17.5 crore to acquire the stake.

Diageo, whose Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Bailey’s and Cuervo brands are already present in the country, has won approvals to invest Rs 1.75 crore in a joint venture with Scorpio Beverages to make Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL), which includes “distilling, rectifying, and blending spirits, ethyl alcohol production from fermented materials”.

Reed Elsevier won clearances to publish six publications, including Variety, in India. The others include Flight International, Control Engineering, Logistics Management, JCK and ICIS Chemical Business. The company will form a joint venture with an investment of Rs 1.53 crore to publish Indian editions of the six periodicals.

Chidambaram also cleared a Rs 511.5-crore investment by Solitaire Capital Investment of Singapore to form a real estate venture capital fund. The other big-ticket investment cleared was by Bijlee Bharat Holdings of Mauritius, which plans to invest Rs 307.9 crore to set up a wholly owned subsidiary that will invest in multiple power plants. Spanish porcelain maker Lladro won clearances to establish retail boutiques in the country, while Alpha Airport Group plans to invest Rs 22.5 crore to set up a subsidiary that will invest in duty-free shops, flight kitchens and food and beverage outlets at airports.