Mahajan invites foreign investors to India

new york: information technology minister pramod mahajan on saturday invited foreign investors to put their money in india, with its expanding market and government policies aimed at bringing in fresh capital. the it sector is fast expanding and provides a huge market, especially in the area of telecommunications and telephony, he told a luncheon meeting of investors and top officials of major corporations at the new york stock exchange. besides, it has highly skilled workforce, is cost-effective and the government is supportive of induction of fresh capital, he added. "the administration''s attitude has completely changed and now it has metamorphosed into a facilitator from a regulator. that itself should encourage them invest in india," mahajan added. the second generation economic reforms in india were the result of "conviction and consensus", he said. indian entrepreneurs should become global in the real sense and raise money outside the country to become competitive, he said adding he supported indian companies registering in foreign stock exchanges. top indian and american company executives interacted at a day-long session which was closed to the press including this correspondent. mahajan told investors not to be deterred by turmoil in afghanistan and pakistan, pointing out that while israel and palestinians are on "shake hand" distance, indian technology centres in bangalore, hyderabad and other places are far off from areas of turmoil. the fact that india was able to sustain a growth rate of more than six per cent even during world economic recession shows the strength of its economy, he said. mahajan had the honour of ringing the opening bell at the new york stock exchange in the morning and quipped that when in school, he always wanted to ring the closing bell. nine indian companies are registered at the exchange. these include dr reddy''s laboratories, wipro and satyam computer services, videsh sanchar nigam, mahanagar telephone nigam, silverline technologies, hdfc bank, icici bank and icici.