The license-permit raj in India might be a thing of the past but its still not all hunky-dory for foreign companies wanting to do business in India.
Little wonder then that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured a group of top Korean business honchos here that while things, at times, may be slow in India, there are systems in place for resolving issues. Urging Korean industry to “have faith in in India”, the PM who is on a four-day visit here, invited Korean business to invest in the country.
The PM’s remarks came during his address to Korea Inc during an interactive session with them over breakfast Monday morning. The interaction had been organised by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses alongwith the Kore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Korea International Trade Association. They represented businesses across the board ranging from power, shipping and automobiles to green energy, nuclear power, construction and telecom.
His speech on Monday was the second on in two days in which he has reached out to the Korean private sector to explore business opportunities in India, particularly in infrastructure as well as green energy. He also said that “India is a stable and profitable long-term investment opportunity”.
He also told the corporate honchos that India has “ambitious plans for the development of our physical infrastructure” and plans to secure investment of one trillion US dollars in the next five years. The projects that India expects to draw investment in are in the power plants, highways, ports, airports and mass transport systems.