https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/india-singapore-mauritius-united-states-china-asean-europe-africa-latin-america-australia-fdi-inflows-foreign-investment-11748447486759.html At first glance, India’s latest foreign direct investment (FDI) data is impressive.
www.livemint.com/market/market-stats/stocks-liquid-etf-f-share-price-nse-bse-E00188 The overseas money invested in our economy for long-horizon returns, always preferable to ‘hot money’ going into assets, climbed 14% to $81 billion in 2024-25. This, however, was on a gross basis; it counts all FDI inflows last year
"What Is Holding The Investors Back?": Nirmala Sitharaman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsUX0LjGepM | Editorial With Sujit Nair | FDI | India
HW News English reality is our net foreign direct
investment is.3 billion that is 2024-25.
In fact 2016-17 our net FDI was $35 billion,
17-18 $30 billion ,18-19 $30.7 billion ,19-20 $43 billion, 20-21 44 billion, 21-22 $38 billion, 22-23 28 billion, 23-24 10.1 billion and 24-25 the inflow is more or less the same as previous years but the net flow is.3 billion of FDI .
notion that FDI is something that is always bought by government efforts and by large businessmen who the government is quite supportive of, is a myth.
common people. middle class Indians.
a lot of FDI are got by common people like you and me, common businessmen who gets foreign investments and builds their company. A lot of small and medium companies has done it. the fact is the government has no support system for these small and medium industries.
(unedited portion- I'm scared to getting foreign investment
is because if I get foreign investment
then I have a huge huge amount of
compliance with RBI. I have to fill all
those compliance for which I have to
hire lawyers worth lacks of rupees.
That's the first thing I have to do. I'm
a small and medium business mind you cuz
if I don't have a good lawyer, I will I
will be I will be damned tomorrow. So I
need a fantastic lawyer who will charge
me a fantastic fee to get that RBI
certification cleared. and RBI
certification, RBI compliance, I think
it's prejudiced because RBI before even
looking at me, they believe that I'm a
thief.
I think the way it's my opinion, it's my
opinion. I think the way RBI has
designed their forms and their their
qualifiers as if that the person who is
applying for uh FDI is a thief.
They already presume that I'm going to
do I'm going to violate FEMA regulations
or I'm going to do PMLA. they already
assume that
and that is how I fill my forms.
If Mrs. Nirmala Sithar Raman who once
mentioned that you know she it's very
frustrating what is holding the
investors back is what Nirmala
Sitharaman said when she was responding
uh to a question at a think tank uh
event about what's holding India back.
She says that going by the textbook
every economic activities are good and
robust and dynamic. Money flows there's
a normal textbook assumption. I want to
ask where are the investable funds?
Where are the investors? What are they
looking? What are they holding back?
Ma'am, this is what is holding them
back. This is what is holding them back
because you look at investment from a
Adani Amani and huge company
perspective. Look at investment from an
MSME perspective. That small businessman
tries to hustle all over the world.
tries to tell sell his talent all over
the world to offer what he has all over
the world try to get money organized in
India and try to build a life for
himself because there with foreign
direct investment he gets it at a lesser
interest he gets the money he desires he
or she tries it and that's how they get
it but then your compliances your
compliances your RBI your RBI makes it
so difficult the process is so difficult
The process is so painstaking that a
common man cannot do it unnecessarily.
He already has 40 50 lakhs which he can
invest in lawyers and and and
consultants who will consult him and
help him to get that foreign direct
investments.
Have you ever thought about that? Have
you ever done a research about that?
Have you ever done a survey? Have you
ever done a experience study? Please try
and do an experience study madam. That
is exactly how you get to know where the
problems are. You can't sit in an iv
ivory tower and and and then assume that
everything is going fine. Everything is
going according to the textbook cuz the
textbook is what you wrote.
That may not be relevant to the person
on ground
and that is not
stage one is your RBI.
Stage two is there's another body called
the ED, the enforcement directorate
which people are scared of. It is like
gustapo.
People are scared of the sheer word ed.
These are our organizations. These are
our investigative bodies. These are
supposed to be bodies that are helping
us to have a better, cleaner and safer
life.
The name ED sends shivers down people's
spine. Believe me, you
you know why? Because end of the day, Ed
is like that that that constable, that
traffic constable
who hides behind the tree waiting for
you to jump that signal and once you
jump that signal, he comes from nowhere,
catches you and finds you
because there is no provision in our
country where I could go to an ED office
and I could say that listen this is my
document, this is my offer, this is my
investment. that I'm going to get. This
is my offer. This is what I'm going to
provide to them. This is what they are
going to provide to me. This is the
money they going to give me. Is it all
okay?
And Ed telling me, okay, these are the
problems. You please solve these
problems and then get your deal done.
And then once I get the stamp from ED, I
get an okay stamp from ED, then I go
home happy saying that now at least I
will not fall into any trouble with ED.
Is there a provision you made? Madam,
shouldn't there be a provision for
common people?
Because a lot of so-called crimes that
you hear and you see on televisions are
not necessarily crimes. A lot of them
are are act done out of lack of
understanding, lack of knowledge and
lack of of of sheer good consultants.
Of course, lack of knowledge is not seen
as an exemption for law. I understand
that. But the fact remains at end of the
day the reality is so
I didn't know so I did it. Nobody told
me when I was doing it that I was doing
something wrong because my consultant
didn't tell me. I didn't hire the
world's best consultant or India's best
consultant pay him in crores. I didn't
do that. Therefore I got into trouble.
And now after all of this even
everything is done when the money is
come to me boom ED appears raids appear
I'm back. I'm going behind be I'm going
behind bars.
You tell me how are you going to make
people feel comfortable? Are you the
government of India and Mrs. Nirmala
Sitharaman saying that madam only rich
people super rich people you know the
the super businessmen uh whoever the
super businessmen only they have the
right to get FDI and and you know deal
with FDI and deal with foreign funds and
all that
because nobody dares to go and check
with them there'll be no raids that we
have ever heard of so that doesn't
happen to them but a common man one
error and you are you are tied up for
life.
Tied up for life. Writing to RBI and uh
and and facing the enforcement
directorate. Nightmares. Nightmares.
People die. Get into depression.
Get into depression. Businessmen have
committed suicide.
And you're still asking. I don't
understand where the reason is. Which is
what is surprising me. Ask a common man
what the reason is that common man madam
at times you know you should talk to
common people common human beings common
people in India MSMES who nobody bothers
about middle class who nobody bothers
about your government definitely doesn't
talk to those people and then maybe you
will get a solution and I'm telling you
this genuinely this is a very
constructive criticism that I offer you
madam
because this is reality people are
scared to go and take FDI. People are
scared to make money in India. People
are scared to to to be wealth creators
in India because unless and until you're
influential and you are super big,
creating of wealth
is dangerous. Nothing less than
dangerous in India.
Some compliance or another you get stuck
in some cases or another you get stuck
in. That's end of story for you. That's
end of peace for you.
This is reality. This is a fact. And
that is why most of the other countries
are having a better uh inflow and
outflow as far as FDI is concerned than
we have. Though like you rightly said in
paper, our economy is doing phenomenally
well.
But then that's paper.
I hope this reality dawns into our
country. I hope this reality dawns into
people who are taking decisions, who are
making decisions for us. I hope this
reality, this this this this agencies
that you've created that you've created
for possibly a lot of it for your own
political uh uh needs, these agencies
work as a friend to the businessman
rather than, you know, work as a foe.
Work as something that a businessman
dreads.)