Make state preferred investment destination: Canadian NRIs

Monday, 05/10/2015

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/

Chandigarh : Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) settled in Canada have urged the Punjab Government to take certain steps such as establish rule of law, bring operational efficiency and provide corruption-free environment to make the state a preferred destination in India for them to make investment in various sectors.

In a representation sent to NK Sharma, Chief Parliamentary Secretary for Industry and Commerce, and Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg, Chairman of the Punjab State Commission for NRIs, the Indo-Canadians have stated that “a foreign investor wants to be secure about his or her property and security of their persons, including intellectual property such as trademarks, enforceability of contracts and employment agreements. A sound and fast-track judicial system is one of the foremost requirements”.

The representation from Indo-Canadians is significant in view of the upcoming investment summit scheduled to be held later this month in Mohali.

The NRIs have suggested that the existing laws in place with regard to security of the foreign investor needs to be highlighted and new laws such as on landlord-tenant relationship should be introduced. A working group to study and pinpoint what more needs to be done should be set up.

The representation has been submitted by Yadvinder Singh Toor and Preet Kaler, Barrister and Solicitors, Sukhwinder Sharma, Jaspal Bhullar, Ravinder Mann, Khushwant Toor, Balkar Saini, Rajandeep Dosanj, Chaman Lal Singla and several others.

Working environment should be created free from any government interference and business start-up and licensing process should be made simple and easy, they said.

Giving an instance in this regard, the NRIs have stated that in Ontario, a company can be incorporated and other formalities can be completed in less than a day’s time.

There should be easy remittance of money abroad, contacts should be maintained at the inter-governmental level and export and import environment should be barrier-free.

The NRIs have stated that it has been reported that India got remittances worth several billion from diaspora. If NRIs could send billions of money as remittances, they could also invest money in various sectors provided effective legal and administrative environment is made available to them.

The Progressive Punjab Investment Summit is scheduled to be held on October 28 and 29 at Indian School of Business, Mohali, in which world renowned industrial houses are likely to participate.