What's better for the country--India-based Maruti Suzuki or UK-based JLR?

The first is foreign-owned, but pays taxes in India and generates jobs here; the second is Indian-owned but contributes little to the domestic economy, writes T N Ninan

Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman of Niti Aayog, said the other day that he didn’t worry much about who owned a company so long as it added to Indian economic activity and created jobs in India. Kumar was promptly challenged by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, which has a nationalist worldview. It is an important issue, and worth exploring.

Consider two examples: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Maruti Suzuki. The first was bought by Tata for $2.5 billion. The company’s factories are in England and China. The generous R&D budget is spent in the UK. Indians buy hardly any of the half-million high-value