New Delhi: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in many other sectors may be hiked to 100 per cent and procedures for External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) would be further simplified, a senior Finance Ministry official indicated on September 9.

"There is a case for further liberalisation and even 100 per cent in FDI in certain sectors," Joint Secretary (Capital Markets and Pension) U K Sinha, said addressing an ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry) seminar on 'London Global Capital Markets'.

Though more changes were in the offing, Sinha did not elaborate on the sectors where 100 per cent FDI was proposed to be allowed.

He said a group under Chief Economic Advisor to the government of India Ashok Lahiri was looking into it.

On the ECBs, the government had already simplified the procedures relating to eligibility criteria and end use.

He said ECBs up to $ 50 million came under Automatic Route, $ 50-100 million needed RBI nod, and those over 100 million needed government clearance.

Sinha said the government also liberalised commercial borrowing norms by allowing the companies to float sponsored ADRs/GDRs and also allow partial convertibility.

On allowing the companies to simultaneously list their shares in India as well as abroad, he said Securities and Exchange Board of India was going into the details.

Maintaining that the government's stance on capital account convertibility was correct, he said, "Our approach was successful when we look at the East Asian crisis".

On foreign institutional investments, which has ticked three billion Dollars in 2003, Sinha said foreign investors were free to bring in and take out capital.

PTI