KERALA- Marriage of Convenience

60 per cent of whose annual turnover falls under the three stipulations taken together can retain ma- jority foreign equity provided they export a minimum of 10 per cent of their production. If their export is 40 per cent of production but they do not fulfil any of the other requirements they can still retain majority foreign holding. What is more, even these written down, new guidelines do not exhaust the possibilities altogether. The visiting delegations have been further assured, formally and informally, that in the application of FERA regulations there will be room for negotiations and negotiated arrangements, The painstaking work of Indian business representatives and government officials and their discussions with for- eign delegations have thus led to a understanding on both sides. The joint statement at the end of the Japanese-Indian talks specifically de- clared: "The Japanese delegation was impressed with the clarifications given about the measures recently taken by the government of India to simplify and expedite the clearance procedures in regard to foreign investment and policy changes which have been made to provide additional fiscal and monetary concessions." Similar views and sentiments have been expressed by others, notably the leader of the US delegation, Orville Freeman. The Indo-US Business Council has now actually got down to hard-headed business by setting up task forces to deal with various problems in practical terms. The improvement in the climate for foreign investment, it is confidently asserted by Indian foreign business interests has been achieved. The task now is to clinch business deals.