This refers to ‘Do the new rules bypass existing FDI sectoral caps?’, February 18. The new foreign investment guidelines amount to allowing foreigners to enter the sectors like retail even though the law does not allow this. It also allows them to raise their stakes in these businesses to well beyond what is legally permissible. As Rajeev Chandrasekhar has pointed out in the debate, why not allow all this to happen in an above-board manner? That way, India will get some top-notch foreign firms to come in, instead of only those firms confident of their ability to manage the political/administrative system. It is especially worrying that, apart from a few newspapers, no one is really raising these issues. Is India’s political class so cynical that it doesn’t think anything matters anymore or has most of it been co-opted by the system? Will Mr Advani please let us know?
Anjali Shukla, New Delhi
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