In a move that would open up contract jobs at India?s infrastructure projects to foreign nationals, the government has decided to introduce a liberal dispensation for the issue of need-based work visas, Cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar told FE. With this, multibillion-dollar projects in the power, steel and road sectors will be put back on track.
In areas where there is no national security angle, the labour ministry will provide work permits in four to five days. Approval will be deemed granted if the ministry fails to decide within 45 days, Chandrasekhar said. In defence and atomic energy, the home ministry will take at most 15 days to decide.
Thousands of expatriates, especially Chinese nationals engaged in the execution of India?s large infrastructure projects, had to leave the country in September-October as the government cracked down on foreign workers on business visas. The exodus has slowed several projects.
?There isn?t any cap on skilled workers and qualified professionals from abroad. However, we have to be restrictive about unskilled foreign nationals, as the country has a high incidence of unemployment,? Chandrasekhar said.
Any project promoter is free to recruit up to 20 workers, or 1% of the workforce (whichever is higher), from overseas. Further, a committee of secretaries has now decided to allow promoters of power and steel projects to recruit up to 40 foreign workers without special permission, Chandrasekhar said, adding: ?Even beyond these numbers, promoters are free to absorb foreign labour provided they justify the needs to the labour ministry.?
He, however, said business visas would not be allowed in lieu of employment visas. Effectively, the policy decision would allow Chinese and other foreign nationals who had left the country recently to quickly return and join their projects.
Chandrasekhar also said decision-making in the government has become much more expeditious with the use of instruments like empowered groups of ministers and committees of secretaries.