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Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday met Ambassadors and heads of chambers of commerce of countries to promote India as a destination for investment in electronics manufacturing.
Representatives from countries such as the US, UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan met the Minister.
“By and large, we had positive responses from all the representatives, and they all want to invest in India, which will also generate many jobs to our people,” Sibal told reporters here.
Clarifications
The Government has got Rs 2,000 crore worth of investment proposals in the electronics manufacturing sector under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme — of which projects worth Rs 1,000 crore for setting up of manufacturing units have been cleared, Sibal said, without naming the the companies whose proposals have been cleared .
Sibal said the foreign representatives had raised some points, which were clarified during the meeting.
“First was about the predictability of policies. We told them that all these policies, whether for electronics or telecom, are for 10 years. Secondly, they were concerned about preferential market access (PMA) and we told them that PMA in Government procurement and security will occupy only three per cent of the market, and the rest will be free,” he said.
He said all foreign companies will be treated on par with domestic manufacturers as long as they set up a manufacturing facility in India.
On the security side, he said the representatives were told that specific items will fall under the PMA fold.
“Third, they said they had some issues on the taxation side. I told them it is not something that I can resolve and I indicated to them that if they come to us with specific issues, I will convey them to the Finance Minister,” Sibal said.
He said companies that had raised concerns about India’s infrastructure were informed about various projects such as the Delhi-Mumbai infrastructure corridor connecting seven cities.
“If they want to set up their facilities outside this corridor, we will then talk to the local or State Governments to provide them world-class infrastructure,” he added.
>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in
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