Faced with sliding value of rupee, the Finance Ministry has decided to organise roadshows in various countries, starting from Gulf nations, to attract investments from individual foreign investors, who could bring in about USD 90 billion in the next two years.
The roadshows in 5 gulf nations—— Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman—— would be organised by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Finance, between June 10—14. Thereafter, more such shows would be organised in Europe and the US.
“We want to tell foreign investors that there is tremendous opportunity for investment in India. We will address their apprehensions, if any, about investments here,” DEA Secretary, Mr R Gopalan told reporters here.
Large fund houses in the Gulf region has shown interest in investing in India, another ministry official said, adding that the government bonds are offering better returns here.
During the shows, the Finance Ministry would highlight the changes that had been brought in the QFI regime, the liberalisation of the external commercial borrowings (ECB) norms and measures taken to deepen India’s bond market.
Officials from Ministry of External Affairs, SEBI, RBI, BSE and NSE would also be participating in the campaign —— `India as an incredible investment destination’
In a major initiative to attract foreign capital and stabilise rupee, the Government had last month permitted residents of the Gulf nations and all EU nations to invest directly in stock markets.
The relaxation in overseas investment norms for individual investors, also known as the Qualified Institutional Investors (QFIs), is aimed at making QFI scheme more attractive to potential investors and enhances flow of foreign capital into India.
The decision to attract foreign capital came at a time when the government and the Reserve Bank are making efforts to arrest the slide in rupee which touched life time low of 56.52 to a dollar recently, mainly on account of withdrawal of funds to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore since April by FIIs. This also led to sharp fluctuations in stock market.
The government had earlier in January allowed QFIs from 34 FATF (Financial Action Task Force) member countries to invest in the equity market.