Wherever There Was Scope To Open Up, We Did, Says Jaitley On FDI In India
Jaitley makes his case to draw foreign direct investments to India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has made significant strides in timely decision-making and restoring credibility among foreign investors, according to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
"Wherever there was scope to open up a sector to foreign investments, we did," Jaitley said while addressing a gathering at the Columbia University in New York, U.S. The finance minister is on a week-long visit to attend the annual meetings of International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and promote foreign direct investments in India.
When the National Democratic Alliance came to power in 2014, global investors had lost confidence in India due to rising corruption and scandals, Jaitley recounted. Besides, foreign direct investment faced hurdles as the “doors were too narrow”, investment limits were small, the approval mechanism was slow and tax legislations unclear, he said.
“It was quite challenging to convince investors all over the world,” Jaitley added.
Corruption, in fact, was one of the “serious stigmas” bogging down developing economies, Jaitley explained. The rise of corruption was mainly because “extraordinary discretion” was vested with the government, which allowed ministers to take undue advantage, he said.
The NDA government instead shifted to a market-driven mechanism. Bringing that change was not difficult due to strong public backing, Jaitley added. He could “say with comfort” that the NDA government has succeeded in wiping out the image of political corruption in India, the finance minister proclaimed.
The government has also opened up sectors like defence for foreign investments which were earlier considered “sacrosanct”, said Jaitley.
Before the NDA came to power, there was a lack of political will in decision-making, Jaitley said. And while the incumbent government has made progress in that direction, there is still a lot of work yet to be done. "In a process of this kind there will never be a finish line," said Jaitley.
The government needs to be clear in the direction in which it is moving and ensure that it resists any contrarian movement in direction, he added.