The Cabinet committee on WTO approved India's revised offer on services, which include raising the limit for foreign direct investment in telecom to 49 per cent from 26 per cent.

Although India has autonomously allowed 74 per cent FDI in telecom, it had not bound this obligation under the WTO regime, which has now been done to 49 per cent only.

Once a cap is bound under the GATS regime, it is difficult for a country to revise it. However, the autonomous limit is subject to the choice of the individual country.

According to sources, the committee discussed offering access in the services sector including telecom, finance and courier operations in view of the forthcoming multilateral trade negotiations round at Geneva.

Under the revised services offer India will not go back on its existing commitments on liberalisation in various sectors at the WTO.

The cabinet had recently considered the offer on services but since Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and Finance Minister P Chidambaram were not present in the meeting, the changed offer was discussed by the Cabinet committee on Monday.  The current offer is a complete delineation from past when the country took a very cautious approach and committed a lesser percentage of FDI than what was allowed. In WTO services negotiations, unless a final agreement is entered into, member countries can submit or withdraw their offers at any point, India can withdraw its offer if it does not receive good offers from developed countries.