Us Investors Frustrated By Indian Red Tape: Celeste

US investors were frustrated in their efforts to invest in India owing to the multitude of approvals required here and the resultant delays, US ambassador to India Richard F Celeste said yesterday.

One has to have extremely high level of patience to start a project here, he said at a meeting with city industrialists under the aegis of the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sicci) here.

Notwithstanding the presence of a vigorous democracy, US investments in India were low, particularly compared to investments in China, Celeste said and added, There is still a lot to be done to reform the investment climate. Even Indians settled in the US faced the same frustration, which explained why they did not bring in as much foreign investment here as Chinese diaspora took to their country.

 

You must encourage NRIs in the States to invest more here. And of course, you must simplify your procedures and approval mechanism, he added.