18 foreign firms received licences in Sept to operate in Thailand

“Most of these companies are from Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong,” he said. “They employ 428 Thais and have an investment capital of more than Bt470 million, as well as technological know-how from their countries.”
Vuttikrai said Thailand is in need of technology transfer in the fields of off-shore rig engineering and decommissioning, petroleum drilling and safety, electrical and electronic systems for platform screen doors, agile software development, aerospace engineering, and more.
“Among the 18 foreign companies which were granted licences, six are in business services – IT, accounting, financial, organisation development – while five are in consumer services – e-payment, e-recruitment software, equipment renting,” he said. “As for the rest, five are in private construction contracting and two in the retail business.”
According to statistics from the department, since January 155 foreign companies have been granted licences to conduct business in Thailand, generating more than Bt21 billion worth of investment.
Thailand has yet to liberalise its services sector to foreign companies, causing these investors to apply for licences to conduct businesses in specific fields first.
The sectors that a majority of foreign companies are interested in include engineering and construction of power plants and elevated train routes, petrol vehicles and equipment management and decommissioning, and resource survey satellite testing and technical support.