Cos look at Gulf for investment

NEW DELHI: In the times of economic slowdown, Indian companies , especially real estate firms, are looking at diaspora in the Middle East for investment. The government kickstarted a series of ���investment meets��� last week in Muscat that had major Indian firms hardselling India���s economic stability to the diaspora.

The Muscat meeting ��� held under the aegis of the overseas Indian affairs ministry on November 12 ��� is the first in over 16 such meetings to be held in the Middle East, UK and US. These countries account for the bulk of the Indian diaspora.

According to Col Harmeet Singh Sethi, head of the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC), the Indian government and business groups will target areas in the Middle East that remain largely ignored but represent big money including Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. According to Sethi, real estate, education and wealth management are key areas where India is looking for investment and support from the diaspora.

One of the major obstacles in this area is the bureaucracy and red tapism. ������ We were told that India is rated the 83rd most difficult place to do business in. There were reservations expressed by business people there who are interested in investing in India but we were able to allay their fears to a large extent,������ Sethi said. The meeting included biggies like DLF, Career Launcher and Kotak Mahindra . The investor tete-a-tete comes close on the heels of PM Manmohan Singh���s trip to Oman where he asked Gulf nations to invest in Indian infrastructure and help the country register 9% growth.

India is now looking at bigticket investments in infrastructure , healthcare, education , assisted living, wealth management and real estate. Indians send the highest amount of remittances back home, beating even China.