Payment of bribes at all levels and an unresponsive bureaucracy emerged as the most common complaints from overseas Indian investors waiting to invest in the country.
At a conglomeration here of non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin, overseas investors requested Cabinet and state ministers to expedite the reform process in areas such as banking and real estate. Delegates at the three-day event said most of the schemes that the government initiated to promote NRI investments remained on paper, with bureaucratic hurdle acting as a major irritant.
“I deposited my money in an Indian bank a few years ago. But I am facing a lot of trouble in getting my money back,” a US-based investor complained to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Mukherjee assured the investor of his support.
Investors also asked the government to reform the banking system to allow overseas investors to raise loan on properties owned in India.
The majority of more than 1,600 overseas Indian investors who took part in today’s event expressed their desire to invest in India. However, they said they did not know how to proceed, given the absence of a facilitating centre, which was a single-source of information. “We don’t know where to go,” said a US-based businessman. “Most government offices don’t reply to emails or take calls. Due to this, we usually come in contact with people with wrong intentions.”
Investors said they had to pay bribe at all levels. “I refused to pay a bribe — and the result was that I had numerous cases against me,” said Rashmi Richardson, a non-resident Indian settled in the US, who left a job in the UK to become a social-entrepreneur in India..
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Richardson said her fault was that she refused to pay bribes and rubbed a senior government official the wrong way. “I adopted eight schools here. But there were frivolous cases filed against me, just because I refused to pay bribes. I came from a place where there is no culture of bribes,” she said. Most overseas Indian investors at the event accepted that over the last decade a lot of changes has taken place. However, they said, much needs to be done.
“I find the states more responsive to investment than the Centre,” said businessman Mahendra Utchanah, a former minister of Mauritius. “Last year, I met Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and he convinced us to invest and we did.”