Mumbai: Besides the US elections, foreign exchange traders and select banks in India are tracking another story: the progress on Google<\/a>’s $4.5 billion deal with Jio<\/a>.
Soon after the deal was announced the market priced-in the inflow and a possible appreciation of the rupee. Currency dealers sold dollar in the forward market or took position on exchanges or cut other deals.
While most in the market expect the deal to come through, traders are beginning to wonder why the Competition Commission<\/a> of India (CCI) is yet to approve the transaction.
“Google<\/a> has brought in half the money in tranches over the past 10 to 12 days. Banks as well as the company were expecting the CCI clearance to come in early last week.. If CCI takes a long time, some traders may change their positions depending on how the dollar-rupee reacts to the outcome of the US polls,” said a banker.
On July 15 Google announced it would invest Rs 33,737 crore to buy 7.7% stake in Jio<\/a> Platforms. After more than a month, probably spent in to addressing ` data privacy issues’, Google moved CCI in September. Google’s s arch rival Facebook<\/a>'s deal with Jio was announced in April and the CCI nod came in June.
In foreign direct investments, a bank receiving the foreign exchange sells the currency, converting the amounts in rupees, and holds the money in its suspense account till all regulatory approvals are in place. After that, the money is credited to the investee company while the foreign investor receives shares of the latter.
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