WOrk NEEdEd TO ATTrACT fdI

It was year 2013, exactly one year before the arrival of the Modi Raj. This writer happened to find himself sitting on a lunch table in a five-star hotel with Amit Shah, now the most powerful man, after NaMo, in the BJP as its head as well as in the government unofficially. The occasion was the celebrations of a Hindi daily, Naya India. Almost all guests had gone when Shah arrived. When asked whether the BJP would be “vindictive” in troubling the Congress leaders, if they came to power, he said, “Not at all. But if someone would move a PIL in the court for investigation into a leader’s role in a scam, and the judges ask our government, we would be duty bound to assist the judiciary.” Asked what would be their “business vision”, Shah had said, “We will not discriminate with any business house, whether they are Ambanis, Adanis, Tatas or Birlas. We would assure them of all help on one condition that they would start a defence factory. India is procuring its nearly 80% defence products from abroad.” Excellent vision, especially in the light of the Chinese dragon building pressure points on the long Indian border and Pakistan’s proxy war in Kashmir. But Amit Shah needs to work with his usual high efficacy to ensure his wish comes true. In the past three years, the country received a mere Rs 1.13 crore FDI in defence under its Make in India programme. The Ministry of Defence had touted the FDI in defence as a major shift in policy and okayed up to 49% stake for foreign companies to come and partner private and public Indian companies. The figures are startling. In the current financial year, “no FDI came till May”. In 2014-15, the total FDI was $78,000; mostly from France. In 2016-17, the investment was a mere $1,000. The “biggest” FDI inflow was in 2015-16: $95,000.