FM rejects claims of more foreign companies leaving country than entering

Nirmala Sitharaman said many foreign companies have invested in India through local subsidiaries and FDI has increased by USD 9,000 million since 2018-19

Union finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that foreign direct investment (FDI) in India has increased by USD 9,000 million since 2018-19 and added that it indicated the “confidence of the foreign investors in the business atmosphere of the country.”

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. (ANI)

The minister was responding to a question in Parliament on the FDI India.

Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) member of Parliament (MP) G. Ranjith Reddy and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanizmozhi Karunanidhi asked for the “reaction of Government on the number of foreign businesses leaving the country surpassing the new entrants since 2018”.

They cited figures that stated that between 2018 and March of 2023, 559 foreign companies had ceased their operations in India, while 469 began the operartions. The minister was asked “whether it means that country is not providing the business atmosphere in spite of investors reluctant to go to China, particularly after pandemic” and what remedial measures were being taken by the government in this regard.

Sitharaman said that this data only pertained to companies that had opened up places of business in India and added that many foreign companies instead invested in India through local subsidiaries.

Sitharaman also said that opening or closing places of business in India or starting work with Indian subsidiaries was a “commercial business decision”, which depended on various factors such as operational viability, market size and internal decisions on whether or not to work in particular geographical areas.