Foreign investors should not be hurt by govt whims: FM

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Affirming that foreign investors should not not be affected by “whims” of governments, finance minister P. Chidambaram has said that investment protection is guaranteed in India.

India has all the three requirements to guarantee investment protection — a stable and democratic political structure, a belief in the rule of law and transparent and independent legal system. Addressing students and faculty of Harvard university on ‘The Rise of the East Implications for the Global Economy’, said, Chidambaram said foreign investors should be assured by emerging economies that their capital will be protected and not affected by “whims” of governments.

“Emerging markets have to increase the comfort level of international investors, to improve their sense that their capital is well protected,” he said.

“After all, why would they invest over the long term if their capital can be expropriated by a change in laws or by the whims of the government,” said Chidambaram, who was in Boston after two days in Canada to project India as a viable investment destination.

“The best guarantor of investment protection is a stable and democratic political structure, a belief in the rule of law, and a transparent and independent legal system. India has all three,” he said. “We constantly hear of moves in industrial countries to engage in financial protectionism, to keep savings at home in order to finance overextended industrial country governments. Any move in this direction would be terribly misguided,” the finance minister said.