Prime Minister seeks more FDI from Indian diaspora

Addressing the gathering during the inauguration of 8th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said, "India is today one of the top investment destinations. Economic opportunities are expanding everywhere. Overseas Indians however, while being good savers tend to be somewhat conservative investors. Most remittances are placed in bank deposits. Foreign Direct Investment in India by overseas Indians is low and far short of potential. I would urge overseas Indians to take a careful look at long-term investment opportunities now on the horizon in our country."

Indian industry is rapidly developing a global orientation. Many Indian companies are transforming themselves into multinational corporations with global brand names. As Indian industry steps outward, the Indian diaspora could do more to inter-link Indian industry with global markets. They could reinforce the improving brand image of India. I sincerely hope that the newly established Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre will become an effective hub for promoting two-way interaction between the overseas Indian community and our institutions.

About forty percent of the total remittances of over 50 billion US dollars in 2007-2008 came from skilled and semi-skilled overseas Indian workers. The security of our overseas workers and students is a top priority of tmy government. Many of them have been badly affected by the economic crisis. We are conscious of the need to structure an appropriate 'Return and Resettlement Fund' and we are working on a project to provide a social security safety net for the returning workers.

We have been negotiating with the governments of countries with large emigrant Indian populations to improve the welfare and protection offered to our workers. Over the last year, we have signed labour agreements with Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar that create institutional frameworks to look into issues such as recruitment, terms of employment and workers' welfare. We also signed social security agreements last year with Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and are now negotiating such agreements with a number of other countries.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has also established the 'Indian Community Welfare Fund' in 18 countries in which there is a significant overseas Indian workforce. These funds support 'on-site' welfare measures including food, shelter, repatriation assistance and emergency relief to overseas Indians in distress.

In the coming years, India will need to invest much more in building physical, social and human capital. We must together position India as a supplier of skilled and trained manpower across a wide spectrum of skill sets and sectors. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is already collaborating with Indian Industry and the state governments in this effort. We would like to benefit from the services of overseas Indian professionals and volunteers to help Indian workers upgrade skills in specific trade where there is growing demand. At the meeting of the Council yesterday some very valuable suggestions were made to upgrade the quality of higher education system in our country.

We are now working to enhance work opportunities for our skilled manpower particularly in the west. We are trying to build labour mobility partnerships with key countries in the European Union and have finalized one such partnership with Denmark. These agreements will help to maximize benefits from labour mobility while addressing host country concerns such as irregular migration and integration problems.

We live in an increasingly integrated world; a very fast changing world. In our lifetime we have seen India walk with greater confidence and ability. In the lifetime of our children we would want them to see the India of our and their dreams - an India that lives up to the expectations of those who struggled to make it free and those who toil to take it forward and an India that wishes to live in peace, as it seeks prosperity for all.

As India seeks to realize its destiny in the 21st century, our engagement with the world draws its spiritual motivations from the values of our freedom struggle and our cultural and spiritual heritage. I end with a thought from Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who once observed: 'For us the highest purpose of this world is not merely living in it, knowing it and making use of it, but realizing our ownselves in it through expansion of sympathy; not alienating ourselves from it and dominating it, but comprehending and uniting it with ourselves in perfect union'.

Source : Equity Bulls

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