3 Asian giants become aggressive investors in India

Kolkata, May 27: With Taiwan, Japan and South Korea becoming the three most aggressive investors in India besides the USA, the total inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country during the current fiscal is all set to cross a record 12 billion dollars, up from 8.5 billion dollars last year.

This was stated here today by Dr Ajay Dua, Secretary Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion of the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, during an interactive session with members of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry(BNCCI) on India's FDI Policy.

He said last year (2005-06) a total amount 8.5 billion dollars worth of FDI came to India which was about 28 per cent more than what arrived in the previous year--5.2 billion dollars.

Armed with relevant statistics, Dr Dua said contrary to the common belief that the USA and some of the EEU countries like Germany, France and the U.K. continued to be India's largest trading partners with huge volume of FDI coming from these countries, of late investors from Asian economic giants like Taiwan, Japan and South Korean have evinced keen interest in the industrial promotion of the country and had been investing heavily in different sectors.

Citing the example of Taiwan, the smallest but the most aggressive investor in India during the past couple of years, Dr Dua said during the period they had already invested over three billion dollars, including over 25 million dollars, for the setting up of two manufacturing units near Chennai.

Moreover, in order to make on the spot assesment of further investment possibility in the country, a 110-member high power business delegation from Taiwan, headed by the Country's Vice-President, recently visited India and held talks with a number of big corporate houses to explore the idea of joint ventures, Dr Dua informed.

Dr Dua also showered heaps of praises on business acumen of South Korean investors, who had opted for India not only because of the sure and hefty return of their investment, but also because of the long term gain for India's stable political scenario.

Speaking about the role of the Union Commerce Ministry to attract more FDIs by creating a conducive business environment for foreigners, Dr Dua said apart from holding a number of International road shows presenting diverse field of business opportunities in India in different countries,the Centre had put special emphasis to focus on specific country and on specific sector and "this has already started paying rich dividends".

Moreover, he said in order to further simplify the business application form for foreign investors in different states the Centre had chalked up a pilot project for electronically enabled processing of such forms.

The Programme called E-Biz and would first be implemented for clearance of all FDI enabled projects in Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh by March 2007, would pave the way for smooth and hassle free clearance of applications in time bound manners, Dr Dua said adding if successful the project would be emulated in all other states by the end of next year.

About the possibility of opening FDI to retail sector in line with the ones done in Insurance and Mutual Funds, Dr Dua quoting the recent policy statement made by Union Commerce minister Kamal Nath in Parliament, said in order to protect the interest of the country's over 15 million small retail shop oweners the government had decided not to allow the foreign retailers to set foot in India. However,for single brand retailing the GOI had no objection and had so far received three applications from large retail chains of Italy, France and the USA, Dr Dua informed replying to a query while talking to newsmen later.

UNI