The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in its latest World Investment Report, underscored that India’s macroeconomic uncertainties remain to be a major concern for investors even as the country witnessed a 17% increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) to $28 billion in 2013. The report unveiled that the country has slipped from the second most favored investment destination in 2005 to fourth position in 2014, though its FDI recipient ranking, remained unchanged, at 14.
The investment report UNCTAD pointed that high inflation and the other macroeconomic problems had casted doubts on the prospects for FDI, despite the government's ambitious goal to boost foreign investment. It emphasized that policy responses to macroeconomic problems would play an important role in determining FDI prospects in the short to medium run.
It blamed a series of policy flip-flops and tax notices, which many in the government refer to as 'tax terrorism' for denting India's image, dragging the country to fourth position. In its annual World Investment Report 2014 released Tuesday for transnational corporations (TNCs), UNCTAD underscored that China remained the top draw followed by the US and that Indonesia had overtaken India to emerge as the third most preferred destination for 2014-16.
The UNCTAD report also mentioned the government's retail liberalization efforts did not result in expected inflows as international supermarket chains, barring Tesco, stayed away from investing in the multi-brand retail segment due to policy uncertainty. It suggested that the government could adopt a different policy approach to leverage foreign investment for the development of the Indian industry and could look at franchising and other non-equity forms to get global players to start operating in India.
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