India no longer preferred destination for MNCs: Bhaskar Pramanik

Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, India of the global software giant Microsoft on Thursday said that India was no longer a preferred destination for multinationals due to a host of problems.

“India is no longer the preferred destination for MNCs (multinational companies). There are a host of challenges. The government has to talk about and address these,” Pramanik told the media on the sidelines of the Infocom Summit being organized here.

Pramanik clarified though that he was talking in the context of technology companies only. The comments from the India chairman of a major technology giant comes at a time when India is struggling with issues of governance, and image management crises, especially given the multitude of corruption charges that have been leveled against the central government.

Pramanik said that other countries were doing better but he refused to be drawn into names of countries which were doing better, and the exact nature of the challenges that the industry is facing in India. “Other countries are doing better on multiple counts,” he said.

He was, however, ruthless, like many other industrial stalwarts, in criticizing the rollback of the foreign direct investment in the retail sector, terming the move disappointing and regressive.

“What this country needs is a lot more investment, whether this investment is coming locally or from outside doesn’t really matter. My belief is that FDI in any form is good. We have a corporate sector which is entrepreneurial, state governments which are savvy. We will be able to put in place all the checks that are needed”, he said.

The roll back in FDI, has incidentally, been criticized by most industry stalwarts including the likes of HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh who sent a strongly worded letter the day after the roll back was announced.