Destination India

India is trying her best to woo foreign investors.

Sure, we offer a huge market to almost all businesses, but is that

enough to have foreign players invest in the country?

According to a recent survey done by National Council

of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), India has to improve on infrastructure

and systems to be an ideal investment destination. Of the eight

factors taken into consideration, let's see where we stand:

Bouquets



India ranked high on three very
important aspects-availability of quality manpower, size of future

markets, and enforcement of contracts.

India, especially in the field of IT, is a sought-after

destination for hiring quality manpower. Indian IT professionals

are quite in demand, especially in the West. But this is also resulting

in brain drain.

We are amongst the most populated countries in the

world. Huge population, coupled with the fact that we are a developing

country, promises potential future markets.

Apart from these, India ranked on high the size

of the current market.

Brickbats



Though India stands high as far
as the size and potential of the market are concerned, these are

not enough to ensure sizeable foreign investment.

We hit the bottom when it comes to ethical practices

among senior government officials. Widespread corruption affected

our ratings in "ethical practices of junior levels of government"

too.

Foreign investors know that getting any document

cleared in the country is a pain. Our systems are much complicated

as compared to those in other developing nations, and corruption

adds an insult to the injury.

On factors, such as socio-political environment,

ease in import of inputs, transparency of regulatory framework,

and the general power situation, India was rated below average.

Infrastructure in the country is rated as "very

poor". Quality of roads and railways, spread of roadways, telecom

services, are too depressing to woo the investors.

Where

do we stand



We have got two very important things-promising
market and skilled manpower. India offers a deadly combination of

skilled manpower at low salaries. But these two factors are definitely

not enough to attract foreign investments.

We need to improve our systems. Transparent systems,

good infrastructure, favorable structure of sales tax, low import

duties, stable politics, are some of the things that play a significant

role in investment decisions.

It's time to wake up from our sleep. The government

has to take immediate steps to reduce-if not remove-corruption,

improve infrastructure, and modify tax laws. Only then can we look

forward to foreign investment leading to growing economy. Is anybody

listening?