The Indian government should divest its vast holdings in the telecom sector to raise money for critical infrastructure projects, a leading telecom czar contended Tuesday.

"Why should the government be in telecom in the first place? It now needs to be bold and take courageous steps on disinvesting its telecom holdings," Bharti group chief Sunil Bharti Mittal told a press conference on the sidelines of the HT Leadership Summit here.

"If the government divests even 49 percent of BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited), this will raise $15 billion that can be used to serve the needs of infrastructure," Mittal contended.

At the same time, he maintained group company Bharti Tele-Ventures would not be in the race for BSNL stake if and when it came on the market.

"I am not in the race. Let anyone pick it up. I welcome competition," he said.

BSNL is India's largest fixed line telephony provider. Bharti Tele-Ventures provides mobile telephony services under the Airtel brand that celebrated its 10th anniversary Monday.

Airtel is India's largest GSM cellular operator with a market share of 27.65 percent of the country's 51 million cellular subscribers. Group company Bharti Teletech is India's largest manufacturer of fixed line phones.

On Tuesday, it inked a deal to open its 200 distributors and 12,000 retail outlets countrywide to mobile handset major Motorola.

According to Mittal, the divestment of BSNL will also increase the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India.

"I would not say that FDI is being affected because BSNL is not being divested. But more money will certainly come into other sectors too if the government sheds its stake," he maintained.

Mittal replied in the negative when asked whether Bharti Tele-Ventures planned to list itself on NASDAQ or other foreign bourses.

"Why should we go through the headache of complying with all the requirements that come with such listings? We are on BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) and NSE (National Stock Exchange) and all the relevant foreign players are there. Where is the need to go anywhere else?" he asked.