It has been a busy month. This week, India's Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hosted an investors' round table in London, opening a dialogue with investors into India about the new opportunities and initiatives from the government.
A couple of weeks ago at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) celebrations in London, India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said: “We regard relations with the UK as a priority in India’s external engagement,” during her speech at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The day before the PBD, FICCI co-hosted an investors' round table with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Part of the discussion was about the tremendous response to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make In India campaign. Since the campaign's launch, the Invest India team, which manages the thousands of email queries received, has been providing potential investors with data, following up approvals from government departments, providing a hand holding escort service from arrival to departure and arranging appointments for investors with relevant agencies. Invest India is a joint venture between FICCI and the Government.
Asian Voice readers miight have read last week that just a few days before the PBD, Business Secretary Vince Cable MP announced a bonanza for Indian students aspiring for admission to UK universities in a speech to FICCI members in Delhi.
He announced a four-fold increase in the number of scholarships and said that it would open the doors to numerous Indian students for study in the UK. He said that the UK government has also decided to set up an alumni fund that would arrange return tickets and bear other expenses of the students who wish to participate in alumni activities once they finish their studies, and build their relationship further with the UK.
In the education field, FICCI already supports an annual Fellowship at King's College, which last year was taken up by Vikram Mehta, the former CEO of Shell India, and the year before by former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. And next week's FICCI Higher Education Summit in Delhi sees several universities from Britain take part.
“We are also proud to announce a major initiative in the skills development and education space linking India and the UK right here in London. The inaugural India Education Innovation Conference 2015 will be on 14-15 January. It is being hosted jointly by FICCI, the UK-India Business Council (UKIBC), Microsoft, King's College, US-based global skills provider Knod and others. Further details are on our website at www.eic2015.com .
In India, there were four items in particular over the last month which reflected a greater confidence for investors in the economy. Asian Voice readers will have read in the paper last week that the Bombay High Court ruled in favour of Vodafone in a long-running dispute with the Indian tax authorities. Vodafone is the largest foreign corporate investor in India. FICCI was happy to note the positive determination and given that India has the most number of transfer pricing disputes globally, quick resolutions are critical to build investor confidence.
Second, the Government announced a slew of labour policy reforms, recognising that the current labour policy is an impediment in promoting industrialisation and investment in India. They are aimed at simplifying compliances, bringing more transparency and accountability and focusing on skills development.
It was a positive message to industry that the Government had earlier piloted three Bills to amend the Factories Act, Apprentices Act and Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns & Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act, 1988. However, industry still expects significant changes - for example, making a ‘Director’, operating from overseas, liable for safety violations is not justified and would deter investors.
Third, the Finance Minister announced a decision to deregulate diesel prices. FICCI's view is that this will encourage private retailers to re-enter the market, state-owned firms will be able to improve their liquidity, operational functioning and financial health, and upstream players will have greater incentive to invest.
Finally, FICCI welcomed the Government’s decision to bring an Ordinance to clear the impasse created by the recent Supreme Court’s judgment cancelling 204 coal blocks allotted since 1993. The Ordinance will address the future of cancelled blocks and ensure that the already producing blocks are brought back on track,” said FICCI President Sidharth Birla.
These announcements point to greater investor confidence in India's economy. As was discussed at the PBD, the 1.5 million strong Indian diaspora in Britain have an important role to play in driving the economy forward.
