Thursday, June 29 2006 17:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Cabinet today (June 29, 2006) approved DoT's proposal seeking a three month extension for ensuring compliance of conditions with regard to enhancement of FDI ceiling from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in the telecom sector.

The Department of Telecom had sought the Cabinet approval to extend the deadline for meeting the FDI guidelines by three months from July 3, to October 2.

This will give more time for further consultation with different stakeholders and in the meantime maintain the continuity of operation in the telecom and IT sectors, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters after the meeting.

The government received various representations for reconsideration of the conditions imposed by in the Press Note issued on November 3, 2005, regarding the enhancement of the FDI ceiling from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in the telecom sector.

Some of the main points in these representations were issues like remote access, accounting information, appointment of resident Indian citizens on key positions, hauling of domestic traffic outside India and calculations of FDI among others.

Accordingly, Cabinet gave its ex-post-facto approval to proposal of DoT to extend the correction time by four months with effect from March 3 to July 2.

Now this deadline has been extended by another three month.