Pant seeks NRI investment

NEW DELHI, JAN. 24. The Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Mr. K. C. Pant, today urged the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) not to merely go by ideal investment conditions factor and undertake massive investments for India's development.

`` Remember the conditions in India are not the same as in countries where you work. So our approach will certainly be different where masses have to be taken into consideration'', he said inaugurating the International Congress of NRIs here.

Citing China's example, he said, the Communist country made rapid progress as non-resident Chinese infused a large sum of investment and said a similar role should be played by the NRIs.

On the home front, India faced a challenge in tackling problems such as poverty and illiteracy and ``so certainly the approach to attract NRI investment differs,'' Mr. Pant said. Mr. Pant recalled that despite imposition of sanctions on India after its nuclear tests, the economy maintained a healthy growth rate of around 6.6 per cent with inflation arrested to a mere three per cent.

The former Union Minister and senior BJP leader, Mr. Madan Lal Khurana said the 21st century belonged to India and this was a golden opportunity for the NRIs to invest and participate in the development of the country.

The president of NRI Welfare Society of India, Mr. Bhishma Narain Singh said since economic development was playing an important role in India, overshadowing social and cultural development, elections should not be taken as a measure to judge the political stability of the country.

``This is where NRIs can play a major role working in tandem with the Government,'' he said.

Mr. Harbhajan Singh, general secretary of the society, said India needed investment in core sectors.

- PTI

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