Overseas Indians are keen on exploring investment opportunities in the country especially in tech-based start-ups, clean energy, smart cities and education and skill development, said Charu Mathur, CEO, Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC), which is the economic engagement arm for Indian diaspora under the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
As Gandhinagar gears up for the 13th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the OIFC has organised the 9th annual interactive “Market Place Forum” from January 7 to 9. OIFC is a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). It facilitates economic and intellectual engagement of the Indian diaspora with their mother country.
The Market Place Forum will act as a business-networking platform for PBD delegates. It would be inaugurated by Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs on Wednesday. Several non-resident Indians (NRIs) attending the annual event look for investment opportunities.
“Indians outside want to know about the changes India is going through and want to be part of them. We expect the highest participation this time around. The US, the UK and the Gulf countries have shown the maximum participation as well as interest this year around. The market place will see over 700 B2B meetings. We are confident of leveraging the platform of PBD to network with key NRIs and POIs (Persons of Indian Origin) and to talk about various initiatives of the new government,” Mathur said.
The total FDI (foreign direct investment) from individual NRIs from January 2000 to April 2013 was $ 4684.25 million, the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) data shows. The net inflow under various NRI deposit schemes of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased significantly during 2012-14 and stood at $38.9 billion, while it was $14.8 billion in 2012-13.
The significant rise in NRI deposits was mainly due to the swap scheme offered by the RBI for fresh FCNR (B) deposits. As per an RBI bulletin, the NRI deposits outstanding were at $10.4 million compared to $70.8 million in the previous year. About 7% funds remitted by overseas Indians are invested in land, property and equity shares, while 20% are parked in bank deposits. The share of remittances used to meet family expenses has come down from 61% to 49%, an RBI survey indicates.Over and above Gujarat, this year, overseas Indians arriving for PBD have shown keen interest in states like Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
