"India has arrived with a thud on the hydrocarbon map," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters Tuesday at the close of the bid for NELP-V.

"In so far as participation in an oil and gas exploration and production programme is concerned, this shows a very high level of confidence on the prospects for India," Aiyar said.

In the earlier four rounds of NELP, India awarded 90 exploration blocks that have yielded several good oil and gas discoveries in the past four years. These have helped win the confidence of prospective investors.

For the first time, all offshore, shallow water and onshore blocks have received bids.

The results after evaluation of the work programme and initial clearances would be announced July 31 and production-sharing contracts signed by Oct 2, Aiyar said.

He assured that if the selected companies submitted all relevant documents for further clearances by Oct 2, the petroleum ministry would ensure they got all clearances and were able to start work by Jan 1, 2006.

In all, 27 foreign companies, including 17 multinationals, have bid this time. Of the multinationals, seven are first-time bidders for Indian exploration blocks including ENI S.p.a of Italy, KUFPEC of Kuwait and Istech Resources Asia of Indonesia.