Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Anand Sharma outlined his vision for India to emerge as the world’s workshop

New Delhi, Delhi, India, April 2, 2010 / IndiaPRLine / — Speaking at an interactive session on FDI policy organized by CII, Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Anand Sharma outlined his vision for India to emerge as the world’s workshop. The Minister stressed that global investors have shown their confidence in India and the country has emerged as one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world. So much so that FDI flows into India remained robust even during the economic downturn.

Highlighting the importance of transparency and facilitation, Mr. Sharma expressed confidence that the new comprehensive document on FDI policy released by the Ministry that consolidates all FDI related policy information will go a long way in creating investor confidence. The Minister was emphatic that the next decade is a crucial one for India’s future as this nation of over a half a billion young people seeks to leverage its demographic dividend.  To emerge as the world’s leading manufacturing centre focus will have to attracting new technologies of the future such as green manufacturing and developing the skills of Indian workers. Mr. Sharma was hopeful that the new Manufacturing Policy being developed in consultation with stakeholders would be a driving force in making India the manufacturing hub of the world.

Earlier, Mr. R.P. Singh, Secretary, DIPP, mentioned that the Ministry was already working on several discussion papers to address various concerns of the industry with reference to industrial and FDI policy. These discussion papers would be made available to industry stakeholders for consultations and this process would lead a more robust reform process.

Speaking at the same forum CII Past President, Mr. Shekhar Datta referred to the importance of transparency of policy for prospective investors and the need for government and Indian industry to work together to make sure that the initiative by the Ministry to simplify FDI regulation by the means of the comprehensive FDI policy document was made known to prospective investors globally. Mr. Vikram Mehta, Chairman Shell India said that time has come for India to look to the future as the country’s past performance was only of academic interest. India is now firmly entrenched in the minds of business leaders worldwide because of the recognition of India’s future potential he said, adding that the initiative by the ministry to develop this comprehensive document is a major step in increasing India’s positive perception among the global business community.