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Stating that "sky is the limit for investors" in India, conglomerate Hinduja Group's Co-Chairman G P Hinduja has said the Western world should get into emerging markets including India and China, which would help both sides to improve their economies.
"So, what they should do to improve their economy. The Western world, the EU. They should get into emerging markets. India, Brazil, African countries where the growth is better and it will be two ways. It will help those countries as well as it will help them," Hinduja said.
He was speaking to British daily Financial Times on the sidelines of the just concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting.
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His comments come at a time when the escalating European debt turmoil and sluggish prospects in the Western world threaten to derail overall global economic growth.
A diversified group, Hindujas employs over 40,000 people worldwide and has presence in all the continents. The entity has good presence in diverse sectors in India.
On the group's India business, Hinduja said that he does not see "any of our businesses in India are not going forward".
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"But our plans of investing USD 6 billion in India in infrastructure, we have not been successful. Not that we didn't want to put in the money, we are still optimistic, I am not worried about India," he said.
"But I think the authorities in India are not ready yet to welcome an investor and clear up all the barriers if we have to go into green projects.
"But if we have nothing to do with the government and if we are in the private sector and you want to do things where you have less interference of government, I think sky is the limit for any investor," he noted.
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According to him, there is a good demand in India. "If somebody wants to go long term, I would definitely recommend infrastructure. Whether it is airports, whether it is power, whether it is roads. There is lot of potentiality... so much money is needed," he added.
Hinduja pointed out that there is lot of money in the emerging markets.
Hinduja said, however, there is an effect of the European crisis on India.
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"The effect on India is definitely there. From 9 per cent, I think we are doing around 7 per cent GDP and India has its own problem also because reforms are still incomplete. They are yet not ready."
"If you look seven months back, the investors were running to India, now they are sitting on the fence. They had scam problems, they had their internal political problems," he said.
Noting that he was in India in the first week of January, Hinduja said, "My impression was that they have understood that enough is enough, now they have to do something.
"And even from the tone and the body language of theirs, the realisation was much more than what it was nine months back... Their focus is clear. They know the problems. They want to resolve".