India lacks the ability to exert influence on multinational corporations (MNCs) as we are yet to develop alternatives like China, said Narendra Jadhav, Rajya Sabha, Member of Parliament (MP) on Monday.
He was in the city to launch Pune International Centre’s (PIC) policy paper ‘List in India – Towards FDI 2.0’, authored by Umesh Kudalkar.
Jadhav said, “Enabling Indian consumers to become shareholders in MNCs, so as to claim share of their profits, is a measure that merits serious consideration as we evolve our foreign direct investment (FDI) framework.”
Jadhav lauded the PIC paper and said, “This PIC policy paper ‘List in India’, has come at an opportune time when we are looking for ways to restore the strategic balance with regard to MNCs.”
Umesh Kudalkar, author of the policy paper, began his address by posing a question to the gathering saying, “Can we afford to not list the MNC’s in India?”
Kudalkar continued saying, “These MNCs are taking profits to their home countries, that is often a lot more than their investment. Not only this is similar to the colonial era, internet MNCs are taking this one step further and are harvesting the personal data of the people of this country, and are subjecting them to data colonisation.”
{{/usCountry}}Kudalkar continued saying, “These MNCs are taking profits to their home countries, that is often a lot more than their investment. Not only this is similar to the colonial era, internet MNCs are taking this one step further and are harvesting the personal data of the people of this country, and are subjecting them to data colonisation.”
{{/usCountry}}“While every nation, be it the UK, Australia, or even the USA, protects its economic interest with regard to MNCs, with China even banning Google and Facebook, India has provided a one-way access to Indian consumer market without the option of sharing the profits,” added Kudalkar.
While speaking on the publication, Vijay Kelkar, vice-president of PIC, said “List in India policy paper is in the true spirit of give and take, that harmonises the interests of all stakeholders.”
PIC policy paper suggests that the government may concurrently implement two proposals.
(1) Listing of MNCs Indian subsidiaries by offering tax incentives on the lines of Bangladesh and others. This proposal endeavors to repeat the 1978 success in enabling ‘listing’.
(2) Enabling buying of parent MNC shares through integration of Indian Stock Exchanges with Global Exchanges on the lines of Mexico and China
According to the policy paper, these initiatives will expand the universe of quality stocks and offer diversification benefits for financialised Indians post demonetisation.