Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma has asserted that India remains one of the top destinations for foreign direct investment, despite the economic slow down.

Speaking at a students’ interactive session at Sophia College in Mumbai on February 11, Sharma said India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policy has been progressively liberalised to make the regime more investor friendly. He said in a recent review of the policy the Government has amended the sectoral caps in some key areas to stimulate FDI inflow.

Between 2009-13, India attracted FDI worth $172.82 billion, despite growing competition from emerging economies such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Responding to a student’s question about India’s poor ranking on the ‘ease of doing business’ parameter, Sharma admitted that red tape continued to be a cause of concern, but added that sincere efforts were being made to create a conducive business environment.

He added that his Ministry has recently launched the e-Biz portal, which allows potential entrepreneurs to complete most of the formalities online.

Sharma added that India’s current economic growth is not commensurate with its potential and the country has the capacity to grow faster.

He said India is looking to create as many as 100 million skilled jobs in the manufacturing sector by raising its share of GDP to 25 per cent from 16 per cent.

“We have to create jobs through industrialisation and boosting manufacturing.

“The dedicated Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and the Chennai-Bangalore-Mumbai industrial corridor will create specialised manufacturing centres, with single window service to expand our industrial base,” he added.

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