RBI notifies telecom as infrastructure sector

Telecommunications and telecom services has been included as infrastructure sub-sector, thus making it eligible for easy bank financing in addition to overseas fund raising.

Further, capital dredging, under the sub-sector 'Ports', and slurry pipelines have been included in infrastructure sub-sectors, RBI also said in a notification.

At present, five sectors -- transport, energy, communication, water and sanitation, and social and commercial infrastructure --  are classified as infrastructure.

On June 25, RBI extended the scheme for telecom companies to refinance their rupee loans taken for funding 3G spectrum with long-term overseas borrowing till March 31, 2014.

According to recent presentation given by GSM industry body COAI to DoT, the debt on telecom sector stood at Rs 1,85,720 crore at end of 2011-12, which included debt of Rs 93,594 crore from domestic source and Rs 92,126 crore from external sources.

Last year in March, the government had come out with a Master List of sectors which are classified as infrastructure segment.

Government has been placing high importance on infrastructure development, the key driver for economic growth.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set an investment target of Rs 1.15 lakh crore in Public Private Partnership projects across infrastructure sectors in rail, port and power in the next six month.