Jaipur, January 9: “We consider NRIs as National Reserve of India and this is the reason we invite you to come and invest in India which holds tremendous investment opportunities in the sectors of education, healthcare and infrastructure. There could be some operational challenges, but these are the areas we look forward to for your vision, technology & innovation, and way of doing things that can help build better India”, said Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha while setting the context for the panel discussion on Partnering for Prosperity. The panel discussion was organized as part of the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2012 organized jointly by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (Government of India), Government of Rajasthan and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at Jaipur. Gopinath Pillai, Ambassador-at-Large, Singapore was of the view that scope of conventions like Pravasi Bharatiya Divas should be expanded to the regional diaspora. He said that the regional integration actually enhances the growth of all countries of the region but the situation in south-east Asia is a bit difficult due to its political eco-system. However, the diaspora holds enormous potential to fuel the engine of inclusive growth in this particular region, by bridging the gap, he added Dato’ Seri S. Samy Vellu, Government of Malaysia’s Special Envoy to India & South Asia on infrastructure emphasized on finding possibilities for investing in Technical Textile sector, a rapidly growing sector in India. He appreciated the role of India in shaping the new global business order. He further added that Indian Cottage Industry products enjoy significant demand in various parts of the world and the diaspora can play a pivotal role in providing the required platform for promoting them. Raising concerns of the Indian diaspora in the context of investments in India, Prof G Mohan Gopal, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies stressed on the need for further reforms in economic and policy framework for investments; tax and foreign exchange regime; regulatory framework for education; and reforms in civil services to get the states out of the colonial mindsets, which in turn would ensure better delivery mechanisms.
A Krishna Kumar, Managing Director & Group Executive (National Banking), State Bank of India appealed to the diaspora to investment in creating in skill development infrastructure and healthcare.