The Hindu : National : Record growth in FDI, says Kamal Nath

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Thursday, Jan 18, 2007
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Record growth in FDI, says Kamal Nath

Staff Reporter

Kamal Nath

BANGALORE: Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) inflow into the country is poised to touch a record $15 billion by the end of this fiscal year, accounting for a whopping 120 per cent growth over the previous year.

Announcing this to presspersons on the sidelines of the `CII Partnership Summit 2007' here, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath said this "highest annual growth" echoed the growing investor confidence in the Government's policies and the country's matured entrepreneurial and intellectual abilities.

He said the FDI inflows in November 2006 were 54 per cent higher than the previous year. The collections from April to November alone were $7.3 billion, recording a 117 per cent jump in investment inflows.

On the impasse in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, Mr. Nath said India subscribed fully to a strong, rule-based multilateral trade system. But in the next trade talks, the structural flaws in agriculture and tariffs should not be perpetuated, he said.

For instance, leather attracted a five per cent duty but a 50 per cent duty was levied on a leather jacket. India had to export value-added goods too. "There is a big flaw in market access to livelihood products. I am willing to negotiate commerce, but not livelihood securities," he said.

Mr. Nath said he had sought Britain's Prime Minister-in-waiting, Gordon Brown's assistance to influence the U.S. to break the current stalemate in the WTO talks.

To a query on the land acquisition concerns for the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Mr. Nath said State Governments had to have a fair, equitable policy on acquisitions. But he clarified that the perception that SEZs were leading to greater land acquisitions was wrong.

On retail chain Wal-Mart's entry into the country, the Minister said the Government had not received any application for retail. "They can invest in backend, packaging, but not front-end. Let them invest in cold chains. To strengthen our neighbourhood grocery shops, our outlets should have access to better packaging and preservation materials," he said.

Earlier, addressing a session on `Multilateral Trade versus Regional Trade Agreements,' Mr. Kamal Nath said that although the WTO's Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations was crucial, its contents were equally important. He argued in the presence of WTO Secretary-General Pascal Lamy, one of the panelists, that regional and bilateral agreements did not impede or bring destruction to the multilateral trading system.

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