Following representations made by telecom companies who have said the rules could put them on the wrong side of the regulatory regime, the government may rework the rules for domestic shareholding in the telecom sector to make the liberalised 74% foreign direct investment (FDI) cap operational. The new FDI regime however has a rider that, domestic companies investing up to 26% in a telecom company should at all stages be owned ‘pro rata’ by an Indian entity.

The new revised foreign investment norm for the telecom sector says the total foreign investment in the sector can go up to 74% against the earlier cap of 49%. The remaining 26% would be held by domestic entities, including those engaged in any sector like a bank or a financial institution.

  

The leading companies- which are either undertaking projects or bidding for them- include Bouygues of France, the Hong Kong-based China Harbour & Bridge Company, Britain’s Laing O Rourke, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Thailand’s Italthai Engineering and Sweden’s Skanska, among others.

According to sources, many other foreign majors are also holding talks with local companies to jointly bid for projects. In most of the cases, the foreign company provides technical expertise while the Indian partner handles the legal and other domestic issues.

During the last six months, around 20 civil engineering and construction companies have entered India or stepped up their activity while some others have ramped up their operations here.

Industry sources said companies such as Turkey’s Limak, Thailand’s Italthai, Korea’s Baelim, Russia’s Dyckerhoff, Germany’s Widmann AG, Malaysia’s IJM Construction, SDN and Road Builders and Japan’s Kajima and Taisei have started undertaking projects floated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and other infrastructure projects of various state governments.

Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRDC) sources said that South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and Construction, France’s Bouygues Enterprises, Britain’s Laing O Rourke, Thailand’s Italthai Engineering, Sweden’s Skanska and the Hong Kong-based China Harbour Engineering in consortium with Indian companies were bidding for the world’s second largest sea-link project — the Rs 4,000 crore Mumbai trans harbour link.