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'India set to see more investment inflow'
Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: India, with its young and productive population, is set to emerge as an attractive investment destination, says a top economic advisor.
In the coming 10-15 years, India is expected to have one of the world's largest young populations in the productive age of under 25 years, even as the West is witnessing the reverse trend of an aging population.
"The requirement of pension funds in the West would be such that it would come into India. As the young population here would have a long wait for pension, India would be a low risk area," said S. Narayan, economic advisor to the prime minister.
Addressing industry representatives at the annual meet of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here Wednesday, Narayan expressed confidence of a large inflow of investment from the West in the next decade.
"The flow has already started into the stock market. I foresee more and more instruments being created here and India becoming the financial market for the entire eastern region of the world," Narayan said.
An estimated $7 billion has flowed into the Indian stock market through foreign institutional investors in the last year.
Speaking on the emerging global matrix, Narayan said the Asian countries were witnessing a higher growth compared to the developed nations.
For sustaining this high growth, it is essential that India leverage its technical capabilities in manufacturing, agriculture and knowledge industry, he said.
Though India's high 8.4 percent economic growth in the second quarter of 2003-04 fiscal signalled revival of the manufacturing sector, Narayan said this has been more in the high technology based industries like automobile and steel.
"What we are not seeing is revival of low end industries like toys and other consumer products. Employment must come out of manufacturing. While we need to push technology based industry, we also need to push low end industry for employment generation and making products more affordable," said Narayan.
On the oft pointed industry complaint about infrastructure investment, Narayan said the problem did not lie in the lack of investment but proper implementation.
Already 
500 billion worth of roads projects - including rural roads, have been approved for implementation. Also on board are several ports development project under the Sagarmala Project announced by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on August 15 last year.
"Finding 300-400 million is not difficult but getting quick project implementation," said Narayan.
The official emphasised the need for industry to look more closely into value addition and marketing infrastructure to promote agriculture sector with a view to generating employment.
Source: IANS
500 billion worth of roads projects - including rural roads, have been approved for implementation. Also on board are several ports development project under the Sagarmala Project announced by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on August 15 last year.
"Finding 300-400 million is not difficult but getting quick project implementation," said Narayan.
The official emphasised the need for industry to look more closely into value addition and marketing infrastructure to promote agriculture sector with a view to generating employment.
Source: IANS