Maruti shareholders approve proposal to hike FII limit to 40%

New Delhi: Shareholders of car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) have approved a proposal to raise foreign institutional investors (FII) limit in the company to up to 40 percent from the current 24 percent.

In a regulatory filing Friday, the company said 99.99 percent shareholders, comprising over 26.68 crore votes, favored the resolution to hike shareholding limit for FIIs, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and qualified foreign investors (QFIs) from 24 percent up to 40 percent.

The shareholder voting was held during the AGM held last month.

Last year, the company's board had recommended to increase the FII limit to 40 percent from 24 percent, subject to shareholder approval and RBI nod.

MSI Chairman R C Bhargava said that a lot of domestic and foreign investors had told the company that the 24 percent cap was "an unnatural restriction to buy and sell the company's shares freely and if the limit is increased, minority shareholders can also benefit as trading in shares will increase."

When MSI was listed in 2003, FII shareholding was limited to 24 percent as per the Foreign Exchange Management Regulations, 2000 and FDI policy.

As of June 15, 2015, the company's promoter company Suzuki Motor Corporation had a stake of 56.21 percent in MSI while FIIs have a stake of 21.75 percent in the car maker.

Shares of MSI today ended 1.87 percent down at Rs 4,272.80 apiece on the BSE.