As Star India grapples with a series of pointed questions on its application for uplinking, the government on Monday shot off another query on its shareholding pattern, prompted by reports that Kumaramangalam Birla has divested his 25 per cent stake in its news operations.
The information and broadcasting ministry has asked Star India for a clarification in view of reports indicating change in shareholding pattern and said that if true, it would have to submit a fresh application, sources said.
Star denies Birla stake-sale news
It is also understood to have indicated that the weekly extension granted to Star News cannot be open-ended. The third extension, after the June 26 deadline to meet guidelines for uplinking from India, ends on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Star India said Birla had not communicated any decision on divesting and there was no question of submitting a revised shareholding pattern to the government.
The government had on Friday posed about 15 queries to Star India including shareholding pattern of the new entity Media Content and Communication Services and asked for a copy of the shareholder agreements with Indian stakeholders in MCCS.
"Why should we submit a fresh application? Nothing has been communicated to us by Birla till date, so there is no change in the shareholding pattern of MCCS," a Star spokesperson told PTI from Mumbai adding it will reply to all the queries in a day or two.
The government has asked how MCCS could make payments running into crores of rupees from a meagre capital base of Rs 100,000 and why shareholders other than Star do not have adequate representation on the Board of Directors.
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