The External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) policy is regularly reviewed by the Government in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep it in tune with the evolving macroeconomic situation, changing market conditions, sectoral requirements, etc.
At present, Infrastructure sector is defined in the ECB policy as (i) power, (ii) telecommunication, (iii) railways, (iv) road including bridges, (v) sea port and airport (vi) industrial parks and (vii) urban infrastructure (water supply, sanitation and sewage projects);
On a review, it has been decided that for development of the mining, exploration and refinery sector in the country, the definition of infrastructure for the purpose of ECB may be expanded. Therefore the Infrastructure sector will be defined in the ECB policy as (i) power, (ii) telecommunication, (iii) railways, (iv) road including bridges, (v) sea port and airport (vi) industrial parks (vii) urban infrastructure (water supply, sanitation and sewage projects) and (viii) mining, exploration and refining.
All other aspects of ECB policy such as eligible borrower, recognised lender, end-use of foreign currency expenditure for import of capital goods and overseas investments, average maturity period, prepayment, refinancing of existing ECB and reporting arrangements remain unchanged.
The above amendments in ECB policy will come into force on the date of Notification of Regulations / directions issued by the Reserve Bank in this regard under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
The press Information Bureau is requested to give wide publicity to this Press Release.
( Dr. K. P. Krishnan )
Joint Secretary to the Government of India
Press Information Officer
Press Information Bureau
Shastri Bhawan
New Delhi.
