...Prior to the date of this Press Note, foreign companies were permitted to hold up to 26 percent in Indian companies that were involved in the publication of newspapers and periodicals.

This equity ownership was subject to any guidelines prescribed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. However such guidelines were only issued quite recently - in December 2008 (the "Guidelines").

The Guidelines require Indian companies ("Publishers") to apply for and obtain prior permission from the MIB before publishing foreign editions of news magazines. A Publisher can publish a domestic edition of a foreign magazine so long as the foreign equity holding in such Publisher does not exceed twenty-six percent. Furthermore, for a domestic edition to be permitted, the foreign magazine should have been published continuously for a minimum period of five years and should have a minimum circulation of ten thousand paid copies in the last financial year in ...