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WTO: India offers to open up services
By agencies
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Monday, 15 August 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Building on its initial offers to the World Trade Organization (WTO) under liberalization of trade in services, India has offered a revised conditional offer in a host of new sectors/sub-sectors in Mode 3 for establishing commercial presence here by foreign service providers covering banking, value-added telecom and part of air-transport services.
According to the revised conditional offer submitted in Geneva on Saturday to the world trade monitoring body, the foreign services providers for establishing commercial presence here include architectural, integrated engineering and urban planning and landscape services, veterinary services, parts of environmental services and parts of distribution services (excluding retail trade).
Additional sub-sectors for conditional offer in the revised list include construction and related engineering services, tourism services, services auxiliary to insurance, asset management services, part of recreational, cultural and sporting services and part of air-transport services.
Alongside, improvements have been made in the existing Mode 3 commitments by enhancing the foreign equity limit in engineering services, computer and related services (commitments have been proposed at the two-digit level); research and development services; basic telecommunications, value-added telecommunications; construction and related engineering services.
In banking services, wholly owned subsidiaries have been allowed as a legal entity, while in the case of non-banking financial activities, the foreign equity limits have been enhanced in factoring, venture capital and financial leasing.
It is clarified that all the fresh commitments and improvements are in line with the autonomous liberalization already undertaken by India and New Delhi is now seeking to bind them to WTO in exchange for reciprocal commitments by its trading partners in areas of interest to India.