'US FDI in India could double in liberalised regime'

With a liberalised investment regime, foreign direct investment from the US could double, a top American diplomat said describing recent reforms as the "first great step" that will help India meet the needs and aspirations of its people.
"We believe US investment into India could double if India continues to liberalise its investment regime," said Catherine Novelli, Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment at a conference on "Deepening the US-India Commercial Partnership," organised by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"More US companies could bring their comparative advantages in technology, expertise, and capital to India, to help India grow and create jobs. But companies involved in global manufacturing need transparency, predictability, and legal certainty," she said.

Praising the reforms unleashed by the new Indian government in the last one year, Novelli said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working hard to help India make significant leaps in education levels, healthcare outcomes, agricultural productivity, manufacturing output, retail markets, financial access, digital connectivity, physical infrastructure, electrification, and urbanisation.
"Realising these achievements will require new technologies, new perspectives, and new policies. Meeting this potential will mean addressing many structural and institutional barriers that have to be overcome," she said.
"These reforms are a great first step, and will help India meet the needs and aspirations of its burgeoning population, set to be the world's largest by 2025," she said.

"We want to do what we can, working together, to help integrate India more into globalized goods, services, and investment markets. That's the way to boost job growth in India and ensure already competitive Indian companies become even more competitive," Novelli said.

The US diplomat said since it came into power, the Modi government has taken several steps to boost growth and increase US-India trade and investment.
Two weeks ago, the government announced its first foreign trade policy, which aims to nearly double India's exports of goods and services to USD 900 billion by 2020.
And the new budget released a couple months ago focuses on infrastructure investment and tax simplification.

"We've heard from our private sector that these are key areas for business. For one, the budget set a target of April 2016 for the government to introduce a harmonised goods and services tax, which could add as much as 2 per cent to India's GDP," she noted.
Restrictive investment policies often arise from concerns that domestic companies are unable to compete with foreign ones.
Yet Indian companies are world class and strong, and do not need government protection from outside competition, she argued.