No curbs on buying cos abroad

NEW DELHI: In a move to facilitateIndian corporates to go global, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Fridayannounced lifting of restrictions on investment in overseas ventures.
"Theyear 2003 has seen many Indian corporates emerging as global players withimpressive investments overseas and investments abroad," Vajpayee said. (Is the age of the global Indian takeover finally dawning?)
"I am happy to announce that Indian corporateswill hereafter be freely permitted to make overseas investments up to 100 percent of their net worth, whether through an overseas joint venture or a whollyowned subsidiary," Vajpayee said. "The current restrictions, including a ceilingof $100 million, are hereby being lifted," he added.
He also said theindustry would be allowed to go global in the area of agriculturalsector.
The Prime Minister made the announcement at a three-day reunion ofthe Indian diaspora aimed at bringing the over 20 million-strong communityspread over 110 countries closer to the land of their forefathers.
He saidthe government had also decided to permit, "indeed encourage," Indian corporates to go global in the agriculture sector. Tofacilitate this, the existing restrictions on Indian corporates to undertakeagricultural activities abroad, whether directly or through an overseas branch,will be removed. "This will enable Indian companies to take advantage of globalopportunities and also to acquire technological and other skills for adoption inIndia," he added.

Lauding the economy for nearingthe eight per cent growth target in 2004, Vajpayee announced a number ofmeasures for expansion of Indian industry the world over and said that India hademerged as a strong economy and had transformed itself from an aid-receivingcountry to an aid-giving country.
Inaugurating the Second PravasiConference here, Vajpayee said India was on the way to becoming a super power ininformation technology as the country''s IT prowess had been recognised the worldover.
"We have decided to permit Indian Corporate to go global in theagricutural sector. The current restrictions on Indian corporates to undertakeagricultural activities abroad, whether directly or through an overseas branch,will be removed," Vajpayee said, expressing confidence that the move wouldenable Indian companies to take advantage of global opportunities.
Thiswould also help adoption of technological and other skills in India, hesaid.
Lauding the role of Persons of Indian Origin/NRIs and theircontribution to the economies of their adopted countries, the Prime Ministerpointed out that over Rs 55,000 crore had come from NRIs and Keralites accountedfor nearly half of that.

Emphasising that India had comea long way since he inaugurated the first Pravasi Bhartiya Sammelan, jointlyorganised by the government and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce andIndustry, Vajpayee said only last month foreign exchange reserves had crossedthe $100-billion mark and the country was pre-paying its external loans