CII, Infosys launch programme to accelerate growth of Indian cos

New Delhi, Oct 6 (UNI) Aiming to create an ecosystem to enable aspiring Indian companies accelerate growth as successful next-generation billion dollar MNCs, industry body CII today launched a programme in association with IT major Infosys.

The programme, 'Towards 100 Indian "Billion $" MNCs', was addressed by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath, who welcomed the initiative in nurturing Indian MNCs.

''The changing scenario in India is the result of growing global competitiveness and demographics,'' he said.

There are 37 companies in India with a turnover of over one billion dollars. The programme aims to explore the potential of leveraging their experience. The successful companies, will help in 'mentoring' the aspiring 100 billion dollar companies.

Mr Nath said WTO involves not only trade issues but also investment issues. Rules and regulations need to be chalked out for cross-border investments and synergies built in to increase outward investments.

Aspiring MNCs also need to prepare the Indian government for future investments and business, Mr Nath said adding, countries like India will have far more spenders and savers compared to many European countries.

Infosys Technologies Ltd Co-founder and Member of Board S D Shibulal, who is leading the initiative said the plan has received an overwhelming and companies like the ICICI Bank have already shown interest in joining it.

Hero Corporate Services Chairman and Past CII President Sunil Kant Munjal said there was a need for a facilitating environment and companies need to function in a more organised way. In 1790, India's share in global manufacturing trade was 28 per cent, while in 1947, it was around 1.8 per cent.

However, today, according to a CII- CRISIL report, Indian firms are on an aggressive buying spree abroad as part of the strategy to establish 'Brand India' across the globe.

The buyers are spread across a wide spectrum of industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to telecom, automobiles and ancillaries to IT with a varied geographic span across the US, Europe, Africa, China and the CIS countries.

According to the report, the RBI has progressively relaxed the controls on outbound investments, making it easier for Indian companies to acquire or invest abroad. Global investment flows rose from 334 billion dollars in 1995 to 1.3 trillion dollars in 2000.

By 2003, Global FDI inflows fell to 633 billion dollars while during 2004 Global FDI inflows increased marginally to 648 dollars.

However, FDI outflows rose significantly to 730 billion dollars in 2004 from 616 billion dollars in 2003.

The report said China with an FDI inflow of 61 billion dollars in 2004 overtook Luxembourg as one of the top destinations of global investments. In 2002-03, Luxembourg was the most preferred destination of global FDI.

In 2004 also, the US remained the world's largest FDI source.

India's performance is relatively poor, with FDI of just 5.3 billion dollars in 2004 compared to a whopping 61 billion dollars received by China.

Of the 83 billion dollars that firms from Asian developing countries invested abroad in 2004, Indian investments were just a little over 2 billion dollars.

CII National Committee on Indian MNCs and GVK Biosciences Private Ltd Chairman D S Brar said there was tremendous growth potential for Indian MNCs.

He said change in domestic environment has propelled Indian companies to go global.

UNI CS SRS RN1620