Cabinet OKs 74% FDI in telecom sector, sets new conditions

Well over a year after the government decided to raise the FDI limit in telecom from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, the Cabinet today finally approved the hike with a new set of conditions.

Well over a year after the government decided to raise the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in telecom from 49 per cent to 74 per cent, the Cabinet today finally approved the hike with a new set of conditions.

The decision to raise the FDI limit was taken in November 2005 but the government’s inability to form guidelines on remote access was stalling the final nod.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi today said the new conditions allow remote access to networks in India only from approved locations. They also specify that such access can be given only to equipment suppliers, manufacturers and affiliates.

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While remote access cannot be used for monitoring content, a mirror image of remote access information has to be made available to security agencies in India. Mobile operators will also be required to maintain a complete audit trail of remote access activities for six months.

Telecom FDI apart, the Cabinet today also gave its approval to establishing a university in India for Non-resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin . The university will have a “deemed university” status as an institution of excellence. PM Manmohan Singh had promised to the Indian diaspora during the recent Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas that such a university would soon be in place.

While it was earlier thought that such universities may be allowed to come up inside Special Economic Zones, the recent political heat over SEZs has made the idea unpalatable. “We have deleted the provision of SEZs for the operation of such a university,” Dasmunshi clarified.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also met today and cleared a weather insurance scheme for coffee growers as well as personal accident insurance scheme for permanent coffee plantation workers and coffee-growers who are members of the Price Stabilisation Fund Trust for Coffee.

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While the weather insurance scheme will cover only small coffee growers with plantations up to 10 hectares, the personal accident scheme will cover 12.77 lakh growers and 51.08 lakh workers.

“The premium (for weather insurance) will be shared on a 50:50 basis between the government and the grower. The Coffee Board will implement it,” said Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Also cleared

• Only projects with a capital cost of over Rs 250 crore now need to go to Public Private Partnerships Advisory Committee (PPPAC) for clearance

• Under the National Highway Development Program, PPPAC will only consider projects over Rs 500 crore

• Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre

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• Rail connectivity to the International Container transshipment terminal at Vallarpadam, Kochi

• Zirconium Oxide and Zirconium sponge plants at Tuticorin for nuclear power programme

Sources in the LJP (RV) said the names of the remaining 15 candidates would also be announced very soon.

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