Uttarakhand Forum

Posted by navin_arya on 07-Mar-2008 at 02:40:51

navin_arya

MEA to streamline FDI flow
7 Mar, 2008, 0005 hrs IST,Nirmala Ganapathy, TNN

NEW DELHI: With Brand India creating a positive buzz worldwide, the Centre is making renewed efforts to harness the buzz into real investment. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee will soon be meeting groups of chief ministers to look at ways of facilitating foreign investment by roping in Indian missions, which till now have largely remained out of the loop, and for pitching a more coordinated approach to get investment-related information to states.

Through this exercise, the government hopes to facilitate investment for medium-scale enterprises and smaller trading partners. With investments also taking new routes into the country, MEA, sources said, the government is pushing for a ‘homogenised way’ of attracting investment. “We have economic liberalisation but corresponding liberalisation in procedure is needed,’’ said a state official. Countries like China has a single-window clearance system for FDI.

Till now, the relationship between MEA and states has largely been a distant and the bid to close the gap is being appreciated even by states like Gujarat which has no dearth of investments and is known for doing its homework well before sending officials to seek investment.

“Pool of information should be available on each and every sector for different countries, which can help match the requirements,” said Gujarat’s principal resident commissioner R L Meena. “There is more of general information available. When you are going for investment, general information doesn’t help. You need specific information matching the needs. More interaction and more information sharing will definitely help. If each state gathers information from every part of the world it is a costly affair,’’ he added.

In a precursor to Mr Mukherjee’s meeting with chief ministers, secretary (economic relations) in the ministry of external affairs K C Singh recently held a meeting with the resident commissioners’ of 25 states. ”This (initiative) will basically be driven by the state leadership. The states will tell us what they want and we will give suggestions. It also depends on the core strength of the state and what economic model they have in mind,’’ Mr Singh told ET.

The main problem, state officials say, is that all correspondence particularly between states and foreign countries goes through MEA. Sometimes by the time information reaches states, either it is not the right or the time for action has lapsed, leading to a loss of investment. MEA hopes to cut down on these procedural delays by streamlining flow of information from missions to states.

MEA has told states that it was willing to help after states identify areas for investment or if states needed help with schemes that may have got stuck. Uttaranchal has already conveyed that it is now looking for foreign investment for hilly areas. ``It’s a good effort. It is encouraging that the missions will be pro-actively involved,’’ said Uttaranchal’s principle resident commissioner Rajeev Gupta.

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