The board cleared a proposal by Essar Shipping to bring in $50 million (Rs 133 crore) through foreign convertible currency bonds (FCCB) to be arranged by Union Bank of Switzerland.

The FCCB is to fund the Rs 1435 crore all-weather port and terminal facility at Vadinad in Gujarat for crude and petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) imports, industry ministry sources said.

The board also allowed TDF Mauritius to bring in Rs 89.7 crore to acquire 72 per cent stake in Whirlpool Apple Consumer Credit Private Limited, an existing non-banking financial company (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The foreign company will acquire 65 per cent of the NBFC's existing shares while another seven per cent would be through issue of fresh equity.

Enron India Private Ltd, the holding company for the US firm's downstream investments in power andLNG, has been allowed to increase its paid up capital from $100 million to $114 million.

The multinational will bring the money through its Mauritius subsidiary Enron MHC India Development. FIPB also approved a proposal of Sonoco Asia Llc of Singapore worth $10 million to set up an industrial and consumer packaging facility in the country.

Union Dominion Holding of U.S. has been allowed to set up a wholly-owned facility for manufacture of cooling towers. The foreign direct investment (FDI) involved is Rs one crore. The board rejected two proposals by ED&F Mann of Netherlands and Growthbest Feeds Corporation to branch their existing operations into domestic trading.Both companies are involved in international trade. Another proposal by Litz Tooling System was also rejected since it only involved trading and no manufacture. It cleared 5 proposals in electronics amounting to Rs 38.08 crore including computer enterprises.