New Delhi, Nov. 20: As a goodwill gesture to President Hu Jintao, India has streamlined visa guidelines for Chinese industrialists, professionals and their dependants.

Business visa of six months with multiple entries can now be extended up to one year on merit to facilitate a longer stay of Chinese nationals.

Similarly, Chinese citizens will now be able to extend their business visa of 60 days up to 180 days and the entry can be increased from single to multiple on merit.

The new visa regime will help several Indian companies like Reliance Industries which want to use Chinese engineering expertise for infrastructure development.

Reliance needs the services of 1,800 Chinese engineering professionals to lay down a major portion of the 1,400-km gas pipeline for its Krishna Godavari basin project by 2009. The company had also given a global tender contract worth Rs 17,500 crore to the China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPE).

“Although the visa changes have been done within the contours of an existing MoU signed between India and China in 2003, the step will be viewed as a positive and perceptible change towards India’s Chinese policy,” said a senior home ministry official.

The guidelines were part of an MoU on simplifying visa procedures signed between Indian and Chinese governments during former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s China visit on June 23, 2003, but they were not put in practice.

Employment visa for Chinese nationals can now be extended in India up to five years on an annual basis, subject to no adverse activity and the foreigner continuing to keep his or her employment.

The dependants of ‘E’ (employment) visa holders will get ‘X’ (general category) visa co-terminus with the duration of the visa of the principal visa holder. Besides, Chinese nationals married to Indians will also be able to get ‘X’ visa without any problems.

These provisions will ensure easier movement and stay of Chinese business persons, professionals and their dependants in India for bona fide purposes, said a home ministry official.