FOREIGN INVESTMENT-Open Invitation

Open Invitation GONE, it seems, are the days when the Indian bourgeoisie wanted to chart a course of independent capitalist development. That was when the Bombay Plan (1945) was formulated, which envisaged a limited role for foreign capital. The Indian bourgeoisie now beckons foreign capital to invest in the Indian economy, preferably to collaborate with it in so- called joint ventures. A background paper prepared by the Indian National Committee of the International Chambers of Commerce (INC-ICC) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for a seminar on increasing Investment Flows' states that there is great scope and need for reviving foreign direct and portfolio investment in India. The best way to achieve this, the paper goes on to say, is to accept transnational corporations (TNCs) as a " fact of life". Their potential to provide technology and spur investment needs to be recognised.