Narendra Modi has asked Chief Ministers to prepare well to attract investments from the global companies as they might want to exit China.
While the spread of coronavirus and the lockdown takes a toll on the economy and kills businesses and jobs, there is one area where India could take advantage of this situation, if states heed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call. Narendra Modi has asked Chief Ministers to prepare well to attract investments from the global companies as they might want to exit China after a long trade war with the US and the uncertainty caused by the origination of pandemic from the country. Stating the sufficient manpower and improved infrastructure, PM Modi said that the country can become a potential alternative to China.
However, this is not the first time when a government in India is mulling attracting the companies exiting from China. Earlier this month, UP CM Yogi Adityanath announced a special package to investors who are willing to come out of China and are eager to shift base to other countries. He added that he was willing to give a special package and facility to the companies that are interested to invest in Uttar Pradesh.
However, even as India stands at 63rd rank in the Ease of Doing Business and the country is among the top 10 improvers, the foreign investors find the country a little difficult to do business. Red tape and issues related to land, license acquisition, etc are still prevalent and deeply hurt investors’ sentiment in India. Out of 56 companies that relocated their production out of China between April 2018 and August 2019, only three came to India, and two went to Indonesia, according to a study by Nomura, a Japanese financial group. Out of the 56 firms, 26 relocated to Vietnam, 11 went to Taiwan and eight to Thailand, it added.
Despite a huge potential of manpower and facilities in India and Indonesia, they cannot tap the full potential due to the above reasons and that is why sometimes they are also nicknamed as ‘Sleeping giants’.
April 28, 2020