Singapore: The Indian Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its final clearance to US-based Mylan to acquire Indian company Agila Specialties on September 3. The $760 million acquisition deal will become India's biggest foreign direct investment project this year.

"The approval would result in foreign investment amounting to $760 million approximately in the country," the government said in a statement.

As per the deal terms, Mylan will have to maintain R&D spend in the value terms for five years after the FDI is brought in.

The deal had faced much opposition from various quarters and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) also raised objections against the acquisition of critical healthcare facilities in the country. It was only cleared at a high level meeting after the country's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh stepped in to sort out the bureaucratical differences.

Since April 2000 the pharmaceutical sector has attracted $11.3 billion of FDI, which is six percent of the total FDI received by India.