India Expects Telecom Investment Surge

India said Feb. 8 it expected foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector to more than double this year. Communications and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said that liberalization in FDI rules would pay off to the tune of an increase of more than 100% over the $8 billion in investments pledged by foreign companies in 2005.

Maran painted an overall rosy picture of India's IT industry at the opening of a technology conference on Feb. 8. The minister said that anticipated robust growth of the consumer-electronics sector bodes well for the semiconductor and manufacturing sectors and that the government would actively promote continued growth of those industries.

In addition, he said, India would continue to review the Information Technology Act with respect to data protection, computer crime and privacy.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006