VK Topa
Responding to the need expressed by the investor community, Invest India was set up as a one-stop shop for information and services to help investors enter India. A not-for-profit company, it is a joint venture between the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) of the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and various state governments. Team Connect met with Invest India’s Managing Director, VK Topa to learn about how Dutch companies can benefit.
Invest India was formed less than a year ago. What were the reasons for setting up this entity?
Usually companies would go to the embassies. From departments to chambers, they would send them to all kinds of different places and the companies wouldn’t be any wiser for this.
DIPP being a policy-oriented department was finding it difficult to field so many queries. If you went to the state governments, you would face the same problems. There was also the overall bureaucratic attitude and not the professional service-oriented approach that was needed.
That’s where the idea for Invest India came from. It took about two years to start operations because it needed a cabinet decision. It was felt that this organisation needed to be in the private sector, and so we came up with this concept that had 51 percent equity put in by FICCI and 49 percent by the government.
How is being a public-private partnership helping Invest India?
In each state government, we have a designated person at the senior level who works as our focal point. In each Indian embassy abroad, the commercial department becomes our focal point. In this way, people who approach the state governments or embassies are directed to the right person.
Other than that, it’s an open platform, where you can ask any question and we will try and get you the answer. If someone asks us to find six companies in a particular area, we look at such companies, conduct due diligence on them and come up with the list. If they want us to arrange the meetings, we do that. People want to meet state governments—we facilitate that, or even accompany them, if they want. If they want an FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) approval, we help them with filing the approval application.
So we are like a friend, philosopher and guide, who is prepared to hold your hand through the intricacies of Indian bureaucracy and ensure that your plans are realised soon.
As far as new or potential investors are concerned, we make more targeted efforts though we don’t do promotions. For instance, the IT ministry had recently gone to Taiwan, with a focus on electronic hardware manufacturing. So we identified five-six major companies in Taiwan and met them individually.
The idea, therefore, is to engage with individual companies rather than run a more broad-based ‘Destination India’ sort of campaign.
We are looking at both these aspects. For the latter, for instance, we are also looking at training and education organisations to come in. We are not restricting ourselves to any sector. If universities want to come in, we will try and facilitate their entry as well—I am already talking to the HRD Ministry for that.
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