What does a population of twenty two million mean? For the sake of
comparison, it is same as the population of Australia or Taiwan. It is same as
Belgium and Sweden put together or thrice the population of Hong Kong. Twenty
two million can be a strong number and can do remarkable things. This is how
big the Indian Diaspora is. Spread across the world from the USA to Kiribati
and North Korea. Indians have been travelling east and west since early middle
ages (trade with current day Indonesia and Malaysia in east and Tanzania in the
west). Many Indians settled in East Africa and gradually moved westward to
Uganda and as far west as Nigeria. Common colonial rule was a great facilitator
in movement of Indians to far off places. Some times as administrative and
military assistants, sometimes as traders and sometimes as slaves (on sugar
plantations of Mauritius and Caribbean). By the time India gained independence
and the term Diaspora was well established, Indians were everywhere.
Ethnic Indians now work in different professions in different countries.
They own supermarket chains in Africa, shipping companies in Djibouti, airline
in Malaysia, head banks in Germany, run state governments in the US, and so on.
The Diaspora is well spread out both in terms of geography and
employment. They are a mixed bunch with high end jobs as mentioned above and
low end jobs (mostly in the Middle East and to some extent in North America). Twenty
two million people of Indian origin and nonresident Indians are sitting on a vast
cash pile. In 2011 India received inward remittances to the tune of USD 63.3
billion from non residents. Prediction for 2012-13 are close to USD 75 billion,
a bit lower than the current account deficit for last fiscal (USD 78.2
billion). While non residents have limited options of parking their money, the
ethnic Indians or people of Indian origin (who are no longer Indian citizens)
have a much wider choice of investments. India can tap them.
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A comparison in Upendra Kachru’s (the first CEO of Maruti Suzuki)
book, "India: Land of a Billion Entrepreneurs", of Indian and Chinese
FDI inflow states that China receives almost two thirds of its FDI from Chinese
Diaspora compared to India’s under 5%. India has a long way to go before it can
successfully attract capital from its Diaspora. The government of India has
made it easy for ethnic and nonresident Indians to park money in small
investment instruments like bank accounts and fixed deposits, but there is a
lack of opportunity to invest in big ticket projects which would contribute to
the overall growth of economy and infrastructure development. Long gestation
periods of key projects and vulnerability to corruption is one big reason why
individuals shy away from investments.
Of late initiatives like overseas Indian facilitation centre (OIFC), a
public private partnership between ministry of overseas Indian affairs and confederation
of Indian industries (an Indian chamber of commerce) have been set up, but with
little success. Long winded processes and bureaucracy holds everything back. A highly
understaffed external affairs ministry is another hurdle. A city state like
Singapore has more diplomats serving across the globe than India has. Indian embassies
and consulates abroad are more representative of a sluggish government
authority back home rather than a conduit of business. Rude and indifferent
staff can make simple procedures (like obtaining signatures to attest
documents) a harrowing experience.
L.N Mittal, owner of world’s largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal and
an ethnic Indian has given up on investments in India. In the past years he
tried to build steel plants in Eastern Indian states of Orissa and Jharkhand but
the government failed miserably to even provide the land for the plant. Indian
growth story is on a bumpy ride and there are twenty two million people willing
to invest. India needs to tidy up its home and set the right policies to
attract investment. Staffing the external affairs ministry will be a good
start.
