CII sees $15 bn FDI

CII sees $15 bn FDI
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, SEPT 3: India should target a foreign direct investment (FDI) of $ 15 billion in the next five years out of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's forthcoming visit to the United States, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said.

"There is a lot of scope for synergy between Indian and US firms. It now depends on how the two use these to build better contacts and boost bottomlines," it said adding that the future of Indo-US trade would depend as much as on private sector initiatives as in government involvement.

Looking ahead at the business prospects that the high-level visit can unleash, CII said India should target at least $ 15 billion of FDI in next five years and $ 25 billion in next ten years in sectors like financial services, information technology and telecommunications.

Financial services, energy, environment, small sector, biotechnology, information technology, drugs and pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, infrastructure and research and development have been identified as thrust areas where FDI could be attracted, the chamber said in a release here today. Vajpayee will leave for New York on September 7 to attend the UN Millennium Summit followed by an interactive session with the business community.

From New York, he will proceed to Washington on his official visit to the US.

"The greatest success of the visit of the Prime Ministerll be to find synergies that exist in the agenda of the two nations and find ways and means to accomodate the needs of both nations in each other's agenda," CII said.

On the trade front, the chamber said the two countriesneeded to coordinate at the multilateral level of World Trade Organisation adding that US would have to accept India's view on labour standards being kept out of the WTO purview.

Coming to bilateral trade, it said the export basket tothe US would have to expand pointing out that at present, six items - clothing, textiles, cut and polished non-industrial diamonds, carpets, shrimps and prawns, footwear, leather goods and cashew nuts accounted for about 75 per cent of total Indian exports to US.

"India, CII is of the opinion, should at least exportproducts worth 15 billion US dollars to the US within the next five years and 25 billion US dollars within the next ten years. Meeting these targets will require a big push from both the industry and government," it suggested.

The biggest thrust would have to be in the servicessector since in merchandise goods the US may not be completely open to a sudden surge in exports from one country, it said.

"Another important area will be higher access for Indiantextiles. There has been a wish list that has been provided to the US and they will have to address this issue for any worthwhile negotiation market access from the Indian side on E-commerce," CII said.