Divestment door open, Govt tells US firms

Kamal Nath: Govt more keen to attract FDI in manufacturing and greenfield projects.

The government today said it had not abandoned disinvestment and assured overseas investors that there were many opportunities for them to participate in the privatisation process.

"It would be incorrect for you to assume that our government has abandoned privatisation. We have not. Rather, we believe that the process of disinvestment should be based on sound business and economic sense. You should rest assured that there will be a host of privatisation opportunities for you," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said in his keynote address to the US-India Business Council's annual meeting being held in Washington.

In his video conference address, the minister said the privatisation process, like the government's economic policies, would have a human face.

The commerce minister however, termed the attempts in the US to restrict business process outsourcing as "unfortunate". "It is ironic that countries which used to be in the forefront of free, open and liberal trade are even now passing laws to hinder BPO," Kamal Nath said.

The minister said the government was particularly keen to attract FDI in manufacturing and greenfield projects to generate more economic activity and employment.

"I would like to point out that while all kinds of FDI are welcome, our very comfortable foreign exchange reserves means that investment for mere acquisitions does not excite us," the minister said. Kamal Nath pointed out that in recent years Indian firms had bought breweries and drug units in the US.