"We now have a one-party government (in India), and a prime minister who appears determined to make Indian expatriates feel welcome in their homeland. Encouraging expatriate involvement could help ignite the engine of economic growth," Lord Paul said while speaking at the 14th London Global Convention on Corporate Governance and Sustainability.
In his address at the event organised here by the Institute of Directors India, he emphasised that for too long India has been burdened with an old, cosy, family-and- favourites, under-the-table style of doing and managing business.
"It would probably be too late to be of any benefit to me, but it will certainly help and encourage the younger generation of entrepreneurs," said Paul, who was one of the first NRIs to invest in India substantially in the 1980s.
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"We have a mature and very experienced President (Pranab Mukherjee), having held every important portfolio; a deeply committed Prime Minister, and a Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) who is widely regarded as highly competent. All of them are determined to make India a fairer society, and secure for the nation its due place in the world," he said.
Noting that their efforts have generated high hopes, Paul said, "For the first time in a long while, these expectations appear to be within reach."
"When it does not, it must be disallowed," Paul said.
Investment that enriches itself but does little or nothing for society does nothing for India today, he said.