The Modi government has been at the receiving end of a severe backlash from all quarters during the past couple of months, with one set of numbers after another debunking the 'acche din' promise of 2014. Yashwant Sinha criticised demonetisation and traders' associations across the country have blamed GST for the decline in sales during the festive season.
RBI came out with a report on demonetisation that said almost all cash had been entered into bank accounts and then withdrawn. Arun Shourie called it the biggest money laundering scheme, planned and implemented by a govt.
However, Modi, at last, may have something to show to his detractors. The Economic Times has reported that India might receive a mammoth $85 billion worth of investment from 600 foreign firms and create an estimated 700,000 jobs over the next five years. It further quotes the Managing Director of Invest India, Deepak Bagla as saying," We want to achieve a $100 billion target of foreign investment in the next two years- both greenfield and brownfield."
Invest India is the official Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of the Government of India, mandated to facilitate investments into India. It is envisaged to be the first point of reference for potential investors.
A Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) report says that total FDI inflows for the April-June quarter, 2017 has increased 37% in dollar terms over the same period last year.
According to a report compiled by fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times division,“India managed to keep the crown as the world’s number one location for greenfield capital investment for the second year running—ahead of China and the US”.
It has been a concerted effort by the Modi govt to ease the entry of foreign capital into India. To that effect, the DIPP released a document that detailed the consolidated FDI policy of 2017, the Hindu reported. It is aimed at increasing India's 'ease of doing business' ranking, in which the country lags behind countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal, languishing at the 130th position among 190 countries.
FM Arun Jaitley, leading a high-profile delegation to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, said "In November, a large contingent of US corporates are coming to India to invest," PTI reported.
He also said that India is among the largest recipients of FDI since it had "one of the most open policies as far as investment is concerned."
SANY Heavy Industry, a Chinese machinery-construction company with a subsidiary in India will be the top investor among the 600 firms, according to the Economic Times report. Chinese firms are slated to invest a lion's share of 42% of the $85 billion.
Rolls Royce and Amazon too will invest in multi-billion dollar projects.