Even after the Foreign Investment Promotion Board cleared Star's proposal for restructuring its uplinking entity to conform with foreign direct investment norms last week, the company's request to uplink from India is now stuck with the home ministry.
When contacted, a Star India spokesperson declined to comment whereas joint venture partner Ananda Bazar Patrika officials could not be reached.
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Star, which has offloaded 74 per cent stake in the uplinking entity Media Content and Communication Services to the ABP Group, had applied afresh last month and the proposal is believed to have been cleared by the ministries of information and broadcasting as well as finance.
The fresh application by MCCS followed government's decision to tighten uplinking guidelines, in which it stipulated that an Indian entity should hold at least 51 per cent equity.
The government is said to have expressed apprehensions about proxy control in Star's earlier application, where it had offloaded stakes to a clutch of high networth individuals.
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