Government planning media blitz to hardsell India for FDI

NEW DELHI: The Commerce and Industry Ministry is planning a media blitz - print, electronic and social - to hardsell India as an attractive investment destination.

"The objective of the campaign is to generate awareness about the investment opportunities and prospects of the country to promote India as a preferred investment destination in the source markets overseas and to increase India's share of global FDI," said a DIPP notice inviting request for qualification-cum-request for proposal.

India attracted $24.29 billion FDI in 2013-14 as compared to $22.42 billion in the previous fiscal.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion said it intends to undertake on-line international Promotion and Media Campaign across all mediums (website, electronic, social media) throughout the world to brand India as an investment destination.

An interactive portal is also planned for this, it said. DIPP, which deals with foreign direct investment (FDI) related matters, is under the Commerce and Industry Ministry.

The endeavour of the department is to target the traditional and important source markets overseas from where the country receives a large number of investment proposals.

"Through its overseas media campaign, DIPP intends to project and showcase India as a favoured investment destination, especially in the manufacturing sector," it said.

It also said that the department intends to release its campaign in the overseas market, portraying the strengths of and opportunities in the Indian economy for investment and highlighting the comparative advantages India has over other investment destinations.

"To better target the campaign, the DIPP will use this interactive portal to collect data about projection investors and provide information and resolution to therein queries," it added.

For the purpose, it proposes to appoint a IT application services agency, creative agency and a Digital Amplification & Social Analytics Agency for designing production and maintenance of the background of the portal.

The move is a departure from the past when ministers and secretaries used to travel abroad, hold investors meet and attend road shows to seek investments into the country.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley have been emphasising the need to promote FDI to supplement domestic investments with a view to boost manufacturing sector and overall economic growth.

The government has recently announced relaxation of FDI policy in sectors including defence, construction and railways and insurance.