Reboot: India gears to reach out to global companies for investments

According to sources, Invest India, the national investment promotion and facilitation agency has made a list of the companies which would be reached out for making fresh investments or upscale their operations.

On the back of the pandemic and the resultant demand surge for medical products and devices, the plan also involves approaching major healthcare product companies.

The companies have been selected for investment approach on the basis of several parameters, sources told IANS.

According to people in the know, keeping the vision of the 'Make In India' initiative intact, the government is also planning to offer incentives to attract companies which are considering to move out of China.

Apart from electronics and healthcare products, the global companies which are likely to be approached operate in sectors including oil and gas, automobile, textiles, capital goods, consumer durables, chemicals and mining.

Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Guruprasad Mohapatra, however, declined to comment on the matter.

India's aim of becoming a manufacturing and supply chain hub gets a boost after the massive disruption in China due to novel coronavirus. Several industry players and economists have off late called for development of the supply chain and manufacturing infrastructure in the country, along with relaxation in compliance norms and labour laws.

Union ministers have also emphasised on the fact that this is a major opportunity for India to attract companies trying to move out of China.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari recently said that Indian companies can enter into technical partnership with global firms which are currently operating in China and set up manufacturing units there.

Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad also recently asked state IT ministers to promote electronics manufacturing through pro-investment initiatives.

The government has also starting taking concrete steps in this front. In March, the Union Cabinet approved a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for promoting domestic manufacturing of medical devices, with financial implications of Rs 3,420 crore.

Further, the cabinet has approved 'production-linked incentive scheme (PLI)' scheme for promoting manufacturing of electronic components and semiconductors' (SPECS) and Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) 2.0'.