Pragmatism on investment

India should accept the reality of supply chains

On April 17, 2020, India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policy was altered through a press note. Investment from countries with which India shared a land border would no longer be allowed through the automatic route, but would have to be cleared in advance. This was widely known to be targeted at opportunistic or strategic takeovers by Chinese companies, and followed some high-profile acquisitions in critical Indian commercial concerns and tensions along the border. Since then, there have been some minor alterations in this policy — but it has now been reported that a large-scale re-evaluation of the process is underway,